Interlude
by Fictatious
Summary: Part of the Serpentine Series, following Bad Religion - Post Battle City, Bakura Ryou finds himself adrift, with no memories of his darker half and no understanding of what is making him so lonely. Yami Bakura is being 'reconditioned.'
1. Chapter 1

SEQUEL! OHMIGOD SEQUEL!

Okay, you're going to have no idea what's going on unless you read the two fics that come ahead of this one. Go on over to my library and read **True Loyalties **and **Bad Religion** before you read this one. Those are both one-shots, so they won't take too long.

...

"**Useless!** You let him take what's mine! What **good** are you if you can not even manage such a **small** thing as protecting what I give you?"

Ryou's back slammed up against the wall, which looked like paper and wood but felt like it was braced from behind by the same steel that now made up the locked door of his soul-room. The Thief's left hand was around his throat, squeezing, choking him as Ryou stared back helplessly. The right hand was drawn back and fisted. All Ryou could focus on were the burning, red eyes glaring into his.

The blow came and then Ryou was released to crumple to the floor, coughing and bringing his hands to his face. "_**Worthless!**_" the Theif's voice yelled at him again.

"I-I'm sorry," Ryou whispered, tears easily coming to his eyes. He'd really screwed up. He must have. The Thief had never been this mad at him before. "I-I-I'll get it b-back."

"_Of __**course**__ you will!_" the Thief shouted and then kicked him.

Ryou yelped and curled in on himself. "I'm sorry!" he sobbed.

...

"Yuugi! Yuugi, aren't you ready yet? Your friend is here!" Yuugi's mother called, knocking sharply on his door.

Friend? Yuugi blinked, pulling a clean shirt out of the dresser. He didn't think he'd arranged to walk to school with anyone today...

"Anzu-chan?" he asked, opening the closet and pulling out his jacket.

"No, it's Bakura-kun, Yuugi! Hurry up! You have to eat before you leave!" his mother's voice got a bit quieter, as she turned, spoke to someone else outside of the door. "Have you eaten yet, Bakura-kun? Please, let me make you some breakfast." Bakura's muffled voice responded too quietly to hear through the door, but Yuugi's mother laughed happily and said, "Oh nonsense! It's no trouble at all! There's plenty of food for both of you!"

Yuugi hopped over to the door, pulling on a sock, and opened it. "Bakura-kun! I- I guess I forgot... were we walking to school together today?" he asked, feeling a bit awkward, but he really couldn't remember any plans.

"Ah, no, I'm sorry for the confusion, Yuugi-kun. I- I just needed to talk to you," Bakura said quietly, his face lowered demurely as Yuugi's mother disappeared back down the hall.

"Oh, I... Is there something wrong?" Yuugi asked, studying Bakura's face. There were dark smudges under his eyes and his face was paler than usual. He was wearing the blank smile that he always used around adults and strangers, and it stayed there until Yuugi's mother's footsteps could no longer be heard on the stairs, then it suddenly shifted, looking desperate, anxious.

"I need it back," he said quietly.

"W-what?" Yuugi stared, feeling shocked by the straight-forward tone from a boy who was usually beyond polite.

"My Ring. It's mine. Not yours. Malik had no right to give it to you and I want it back," Bakura said, walking into the room without announcement and stepping so close Yuugi could feel his breath. "Where is it?"

"I- I- Bakura-kun, I can't-" Yuugi started.

"_It's not yours!_" Bakura almost shouted, grabbing Yuugi's arms and shaking him.

The next moment Yuugi felt himself being pulled back and suddenly he was watching passively as his other self took control. "No, it's _mine_, Bakura, and I'm not giving it to you."

"_Shut up!_" Bakura was hysterical now and he looked about ready to cry. "_Shut up!_ You're a _liar!_ It belongs to _me!_ It's mine and you _have_ to give it back! I _need_ it!"

"Get a _hold_ of yourself!" the Pharaoh snapped. "It's for your own good that I can't let you near it again!"

"_No!_ You don't _get_ it! You don't _understand!_" Bakura wailed. He was crying now. "It's all _wrong_ and I have to _fix_ it!"

"No, Bakura, you have to _calm down!_" the Pharaoh insisted, putting a hand on Bakura's shoulder, as though to steady him. "I cannot let you become involved again!"

"_Shut up!_" Bakura slapped the hand away. "_Murderer!_ I won't let you keep what was never _yours!_" Bakura's right hand flew up in the air and tensed, his fingers curling like claws.

Less than a second later, there was a clank, of bronze thumping against wood, and the Pharaoh turned his head to see the dresser drawer where Yuugi had stored the other three Millenium Items starting to shake loose and slide out. Bakura's eyes shot to the drawer as well and he lunged toward it.

"_Stop!_" the Pharaoh yelled and reached out, grabbing a handful of Bakura's hair and then slapping his other hand against the boy's forehead. Power surged through the connection and a moment later, Bakura went limp, falling forward as the Pharaoh struggled to catch him.

Yuugi was frozen with shock for a moment as he watched the Pharaoh ease Bakura down to the floor before he shouted in panic, _What did you __**do**__ to him?_

"H-he- I- he surprised me..." the Pharaoh said lamely. "The spirit in the Millenium Ring must have taught him to use magic..."

Yuugi could hear his mother's hurried footsteps in the hall and then her voice. "Yuugi? Is everything all right? I heard a commotion!"

"It's Bakura-kun," the Pharaoh called, imitating Yuugi's pitch cadence as Yuugi's mother reached the door and saw him crouched over Bakura's unconscious form. "He collapsed. I think he's sick."

"Oh my goodness! That's terrible! Oh, he looked under the weather when he came over! It's just terrible! A boy his age shouldn't be living _alone!_" Yuugi's mother exclaimed, rushing over while Pharaoh avoided eye-contact. "Oh, we should get him to a hospital! No, you'll go to school Yuugi, I'll take care of Bakura-kun."

"... Yes, ma'am."

_What are you __**doing?**__ You're lying to my mother!_

You need to calm down. I don't want to upset her and you're too hysterical to explain this in a way she could understand.

_You haven't explained it to__** me! **__What did you __**do**__ to him?_

I... I think I might have erased his memory of the Millenium Ring...

... That's not **fair!** You can't just **do** something like that to a person!

It's already done. I didn't have a choice. There wasn't time. The demon-parasite was controlling him.

The Pharaoh moved their body mechanically as he spoke to Yuugi, barely aware of what Yuugi's mother was still saying as he helped her carry Bakura downstairs and out to the car. She yelled into the house at Grandpa, said a somewhat frantic goodbye, patted the Pharaoh on the head and drove off for the hospital without once noticing that he wasn't Yuugi.

_... What's going to happen to him?_ Yuugi asked quietly.

_He'll wake up and be a normal boy,_ the Pharaoh said, shaking his head. _Are you calmed down now? You need to go to school._

... You're sure he'll be okay?

He won't remember any of the terrible things that happened to him, the Pharaoh assured him, sinking back and nudging Yuugi forward, back into control of his body.

...

The snake was throwing a tantrum. It howled with fury, threw its body against the walls and kicked sand into the air. Bakhura held still and just watched it, knowing that if he did anything to remind the demon of his presence, it would most likely turn its wrath on him. As it moved through its fit of rage, it kept switching its shape, sometimes appearing as an enormous snake, slamming its length into the stone walls of the cell, sometimes as a perfect copy of Bakhura, punching at the ground and screaming.

Bakhura crouched halfway up the steps, out of its way. He knew what had set the creature off. For just a moment, he had felt Ryou. He'd felt Ryou's presence and the particular signature of his magic flooding the cell. And then it had cut off abruptly. Something had blocked Ryou from taking back the Millenium Ring this time. The Pharaoh, perhaps? Who else could have been strong enough to thwart Ryou and the snake at the same time?

Bakhura couldn't care less about the horrible thing tantruming below him, but his skin crawled to wonder what had happened to his Ryou. What would a sadistic bastard like the Pharaoh do to his innocent host? Bakhura closed his eyes and shook his head. Ryou was still alive. He had to be. Bakhura would find him again and he would cut out a pound of the Pharaoh's flesh for every displaced hair on Ryou's head.

Suddenly, a sound came from above him. Bakura lifted his head and looked up at the heavy prison door. It was shaking on its hinges. Below him, the creature finally quieted, the new disturbance catching its attention as well. The door thumped loudly against the frame as it shook, and the sandstone around it cracked in places.

"No," the creature growled and then, without even seeing it move, Bakhura found himself being dragged from his perch and thrown on the ground.

A moment later the door ripped out of the frame, dragging bricks and mortar with it, and then someone stepped through, a manic grin stretched across olive lips. Malik. Bakhura blinked, puzzled. The other Malik was standing in his cell when he should have been dead.

"MOT!" the snake shrieked, seething next to Bakhura. "How dare you come here!"

The other creature, Mot, laughed. "Pleased to see you too, my darling!" it said cheekily.

The snake was visibly shaking with rage as it glared up at the interloper. "I thought the Pharaoh **destroyed** you. I was very nearly ready to **thank** him for it!" the snake spat.

"So **sorry** to disappoint!" Mot jeered. "Our master saw fit to grant me another life. Of course, if you disagree, do feel free to take up your complaint with **him**." It started descending the steps to the floor.

"Get out!" the snake shouted.

"Come come now, Sek," Mot said in the most insincere voice Bakhura could imagine. "I heard that my dearest brother was having some difficulty and what could I do but lend a hand?"

"It's **your** meddling that created this mess!" the snake, Sek, protested. "Master cannot **possibly** blame me for **your** mistakes!"

"I think he should be quite interested to know that you are now the definer of what he is and isn't capable of," Mot replied, coming to the bottom of the steps and cocking his head to the side, a shit-eating grin on his face.

Sek screamed in wordless rage and launched himself forward. Suddenly the human facades were gone and Bakhura was watching two massive snakes snapping at each other and tangling in a vicious brawl on the sandy floor. He pressed himself against the wall, staring and trying not to shake at the sight. He couldn't tell the snakes apart, now that they were in the same space, he just watched them writhe and bite each other repeatedly, unsure what would be the lesser of two evils in which he should put his hope.

Quite abruptly, one of the heads broke away from the squirming mass and rocketed toward Bakhura. He gasped in shock and terror as huge fangs sank into his shoulder for just a moment before being ripped away, a voice screaming, NO!

And then Sek was back next to Bakhura, mimicking his human shape again and gripping Bakhura's arm, glaring down at the punctures for a moment before turning his furious gaze back on Mot.

Mot started laughing again, and the long, serpentine body dissolved away into a smaller human one. But it wasn't Malik's image this time. Bakhura stared, unable to keep from shivering. Mot sat up from where Sek had thrown him a moment earlier and leered, white hair framing another distorted copy of Bakhura's face.

"What are you playing at?" Sek demanded.

Mot shrugged, standing and examining his arms, taking stock of his newly copied body. "Well one **has** to wonder... It has been **three millennia**, after all, and you're **still** having discipline issues?" Mot flexed his fingers with a satisfied smile and pulled forward a lock of his hair to consider. "Did you ever think that perhaps you're simply not **cut out** for this sort of task?"

Sek hissed violently. "As if **you** did any better! You never **once** had control of that boy's mind!"

"Really, Sek, all this mothering and codling, it's not getting you anywhere," Mot sneered and pointed to Bakhura. "This boy doesn't even **respect** you! And who could **blame** him?"

"Shut up!"

Mot laughed again, "Oh **touché!** You are, as ever, the master of rhetoric, my dearest!" He put a hand on his hip and leaned a bit, looking casually around the cell. "Of course, the other reason I've come, is that there has been a development, a change in plans, if you will, and Master thought you ought to be made aware."

Sek was quiet, glaring suspiciously as Mot ventured over to them. He twitched when Mot clapped a hand on his shoulder, but didn't bother to push it away. Mot looked at him with half-lidded eyes and a wide smirk. Then he started speaking again. The words rolled past Bakhura, strange and meaningless, in a language far older than Egypt. Sek spoke, asked a question, in the same ancient tongue and Mot laughed. He responded in a lascivious tone and grinned so his teeth shown. Sek huffed and looked away.

"Just bare in mind that you have until October," Mot said, shaking his head to get the hair out of his eyes.

"... That's not much time," Sek said quietly, his brow pinching a bit.

"That's the difference between you and me, Sek. I think it's far too **long!** I don't know **how** I shall manage to pass the time, I've simply not enough to **do!**" Mot shrugged and gave a bored look.

"Your overconfidence is your downfall, Mot. You've never the patience to do a job **properly!**" Sek snapped and then looked down at Bakhura, clenching his jaw nervously.

"Work smarter, not harder, love!" Mot waved a hand dismissively. "Would you like me to show you how to break a human more... efficiently?"

"No."

"Well that's too bad, isn't it? Because I've come prepared and ready to make your life **so** much easier," Mot said and then he lunged down and caught Bakhura's wrist, wrenching his arm up painfully and dragging him to his feet.

"No! Damn you, Mot, this is my task!" Sek shrieked, grabbing a handful of Mot's shirt.

Mot smirked at him and said something in that old language again. Sek growled and snapped a reply. Mot laughed and spoke again, longer, several sentences. Sek reluctantly let go of Mot's shirt, shaking minutely with rage as he turned his head, looking away sharply and snorting.

"Don't interfere then," Mot said, landing a hand against Sek's chest and shoving him back so he stumbled. Sek hissed but Mot ignored him, turning his attention on Bakhura. "Now... Bakhura, isn't it? How very appropriate. I like that name. And I like you." He smirked and patted a hand against Bakhura's cheek. His eyes were blue, Bakhura noticed, not just the iris but the entire eye had a bluish glow, the same way that Sek's glowed red. Mot chuckled softly and continued, "And your sweet Ryou, of course. Malik was rather taken with him... such a soft, pretty creature."

Bakhura finally snapped, no longer caring what manner of being he was facing; he wasn't about to let anyone or anything speak of his Ryou in such a suggestive, wicked voice. He swung at the demon's face but his fist never got there, stopped mid-air by Mot's hand before being twisted painfully.

Mot laughed out loud. "Ah, there it is! That oh so **human** defiance of the proper order of things!" His knee slammed into Bakhura's gut, making him double over, which earned him a kick in the face. "You should be cautious, little Bakhura, I am not as kind as Sek."

Bakhura lost track of the blows as he was slammed into the walls and floor, pummeled with fists and feet, squeezed by massive coils and injected with burning, searing venom through multiple bites. Sek just sat on the steps, passively watching as Mot brutalized him and laughed all the while.

When Bakhura could barely move, not that he had ever been able to fight back properly, he curled into a defensive ball on the ground. "Look how the human wilts, Sek!" Mot announced, standing over him and laughing. "You could have done this at any time!"

"Don't **presume** to imply that I have not used **discipline**," Sek snapped. "He will easily rebound and be only more **contemptuous** for your efforts."

"But of **course!** A beating is only effective to the **body!** If it is the spirit you wish to shatter, one has to know how their primitive little minds work. One has to know what really **scares** them!" Mot kicked Bakhura in the side and Bakhura bit his tongue to stop himself from making a sound. "You see? Look at him trying to protect himself even now! Look how he guards his ribs!"

Mot dove down and grabbed Bakhura's arms, prying them back away from his body and pushing his back into the ground. "What you have to show them, Sek, is that they are incapable of protecting **anything**, least of all themselves! Prove to them that there is **nothing** you can not take from them, no part of their body or mind you can not **scar!**"

Bakhura's already torn shirt was ripped away, as he was pressed down, forced to uncurl, and then when his belt was pulled off Bakhura's eyes widened, realizing belatedly that he was being stripped. "No!" he struggled, trying desperately to kick the demon away. "No!" This was not happening.

"There's still fight in him yet!" Mot called up to Sek, laughing maniacally.

...

After school, they set out straight away for Bakura's house. Yuugi's mother had texted him two hours earlier to let him know that Bakura had been sent home from the hospital and wasn't seriously ill. Yuugi had been relieved and, though he didn't express it, he thought the Pharaoh was as well.

Anzu wanted to buy something for Bakura on the way, but Jounochi and Yuugi both insisted that they didn't want to take the time to shop, they just wanted to see if Bakura was all right. Anzu was miffed and prodded Honda for a while, wanting him to back her up on the need to arrive with a gift, but Honda steadfastly refused to take a side, and so they soon arrived at the apartment, empty-handed, and Yuugi knocked on the door.

The door opened to a slightly tired-looking but fully conscious Bakura Ryou, who lit up with a pleasant smile at the sight of his friends. "Oh, hello!" he said cheerfully. "Would you like to come in?"

"Ah, we don't want to trouble you, Bakura-kun, I'm sure you should be resting. We just wanted to make sure you were feeling better." Yuugi returned his smile a little awkwardly.

"I appreciate that," Bakura beamed, sincerity bleeding through his voice. "The doctor said that I was exhausted and my blood-sugar was low because I forgot to eat breakfast. He scolded me a lot and told me to take better care of myself." Bakura scratched his head, grinning sheepishly. "W-would you all like to come in for some tea?"

"That'd be great!" Jounochi started, but then Anzu stomped on his foot.

"No, Jounochi! We have to let Bakura-kun rest!" Anzu stated firmly. "We were only stopping by to see how you were, Bakura-kun. We're so glad that you're okay!"

"O-oh. Yes, I suppose you probably have things to do..." Bakura nodded, looking a little disappointed.

"That's not it, Bakura-kun!" Yuugi protested. "The doctor said that you need to rest and you- you really made yourself sick at Battle City, so- so you should try to sleep if you can!"

"Yeah..." Bakura nodded vaguely. "It's funny because I can barely remember anything that happened. I must have been really exhausted. I think maybe I should give up Duel Monsters and focus a bit more on my studys."

Yuugi bit his lip and nodded. "Y-yeah. Maybe that would be a good idea... I mean, you're really smart, and I'm sure you could get into a top university if you tried. Not a goof-off like me..."

"Ah, that's really unnecessary," Bakura said, shaking his head and flushing a little.

"But anyway!" Anzu cut in, as she was pushing Jounochi back in the direction of the stairs. "We really need to let you rest! I want you to be all fixed up so you can come to school tomorrow!"

Bakura nodded slowly. "Yes... Thank you for coming..."

"All right. I'll see you tomorrow," Yuugi said, offering him a little smile. "Don't push yourself though. If you're still not feeling well, you should take another day off. I can come over after class and bring you the homework you missed."

Bakura smiled at him, looking a little bit too grateful at the offer. "Thank you," he said warmly.

...

Bakhura shook, curled pathetically on the floor, sand clinging to his filthy, naked body. Tears were running unchecked, sideways, down his face as he lay there, trembling and silent except for the quiet, congested little whispers of sobs falling out of his mouth at random intervals.

Mot trailed his hand along the wall as he climbed the stairs, a self-satisfied smirk twisting his lips. When he reached the step Sek was sitting on he leaned down, bringing himself nose-to-nose with his fellow demon. "_I believe this is what they call good-cop-bad-cop?_" he said in the tongue of Sumer, before pecking Sek on the lips. Sek slapped at him and Mot laughed, hopping around past him and up to the top of the stairs. "_I have other matters to attend to for now, dearest, so I'll leave this in your hands a while longer!_" he declared and stepped out into nothingness, disappearing instantly.

Sek snorted irritably and glared down at Bakhura, crumpled up like a pathetic, broken thing. After a few moments, he pushed himself away from the stairs and dropped down to the floor below. He could see Bakhura flinch when he landed. His head lifted a little as Sek walked towards him and Bakhura pushed himself up to his hands and knees, scrambling backward away from Sek until he ran into the wall.

"_Bakhura, listen to me_," Sek said in a calm voice, crouching down in front of Bakhura. "_If my master has sent Mot here, then it is because he believes that __**I**__ am not competent to __**reason**__ with you,_" Sek explained. Bakhura was just shaking and staring at him, accusing, terrified. Really, it was interesting how humans could continue to be traumatized over and over again. One would have thought the boy might build up a tolerance by now.

"_Knowing Mot as long as I have, and I can assure you it's much longer than you are capable of comprehending, I can tell you that today's... display seemed rather uncharacteristically short-lived and gentle of him._" Sek reached forward and caught Bakhura, pulling him into what he hoped was a tender embrace even as the human struggled and tried to fight him. "_His preference usually leans more towards prolonged torture. Perhaps you don't think much of me, Bakhura, but I should very much hate to loose you to Mot, and I can not see a way that __**your**__ interests would be better served in his care..._"

Bakhura shuddered and stopped fighting against Sek. Sek smiled darkly and stroked the human's hair. "_We used to get along quite well, you and I. Don't you remember? I suppose as a human, you will inevitably be drawn to other humans, and so it is difficult to fault you for forming an attachment to the boy, but you must __**understand**__ that we are but tools in something __**much**__ greater than ourselves._"

Bakhura finally broke down into loud sobs that shook his entire body and Sek cradled the broken human against himself, whispering quietly in his ear. "_Bear with me, Bakhura. I will do my best to keep Mot away from you, but I __**must**__ have your cooperation._"

...

He was tired. He probably hasn't slept properly in a week, the Pharaoh said firmly.

"But he just... He seemed kind of sad..." Yuugi mumbled, sinking lower in the hot bath water, his face pinched with worry.

He doesn't remember anything, how could he be sad?

I don't know... Yuugi thought. He just seemed... different.

Of course he did. He was being sincere. This is the first time he's spoken to you without pretence.

Then why was he sad?

He was just tired.

Yuugi sighed. He took a breath and then disappeared under the water, holding himself there and letting the heat sink into his body as long as he could before surfacing again for air. He shook his head and smoothed his hair back, squeezing out the excess water, before climbing out of the tub and fetching his towel.

You're worrying too much, Yuugi. Bakura is better off this way. Soon he'll adjust and be a perfectly normal, happy child.

Yuugi nodded slowly, drying himself off. "... What about the other Bakura? The one Mai-san talked about?"

Even if he is human, that doesn't make him **good**. He tried to kill you and your friends to get to me. I doubt there is very much left in him to be saved even if such a thing were possible.

Yuugi slid open the door and padded down the hall, wrapped in a towel, to his bedroom to get dressed away from the clinging humidity of the bathroom. ...It seems like Bakura-kun might have been saving him... he thought, pulling his door shut and walking over to his bed to fish out the pajamas he'd shoved under his pillow that morning.

That's wishful thinking, Yuugi. The spirit of the Millenium Ring might have been protective of Bakura, but he still attacked many innocent people.

"... So did Malik..." Yuugi said, pulling the loose-fitting shirt over his head.

Malik is a child who is still growing and developing. The spirit of the Millenium Ring is ancient.

"Well you can be kind of a jerk sometimes too, y'know," Yuugi mumbled, chewing on his lip. "You almost killed Kaiba."

That was **his** decision! I was merely attempting to call his bluff! the Pharaoh sounded sulky and defensive, as he usually did when Yuugi brought up that match. Yuugi glanced at his phone, tossed on his bed earlier with the other contents of his pockets. The outside screen announced that he'd missed a call while he was bathing.

He flipped the phone open and checked the record. "Bakura-kun called," he said, though it probably wasn't necessary, the Pharaoh could see what he saw. "I'm going to call him back now."

That's good.

The phone rang twice before Bakura's voice answered, sounding a little too pleased. "Yuugi?"

"Hi, you- you called a few minutes ago. Was there anything wrong, Bakura-kun?" Yuugi asked hesitantly.

"Oh, no, nothing's wrong. I took a nap earlier and I'm feeling much better now," Bakura replied. "I was just calling to see what you were doing. I- I guess I could probably be studying or something, I think I'm behind in the history text, but, I just... wanted to talk, I guess..."

"Okay..." Yuugi said, frowning softly and arranging himself to sit cross-legged on his bed with his bare feet tucked under his knees for warmth. "Was there something particular you wanted to talk about?"

"N-no. Not really. Um," there was a nervous little laugh from the other end of the phone. "I guess it's pretty silly. I don't know, I was just feeling very lonely today for some reason. It sounds stupid, doesn't it? I mean, I've been on my own for almost three years..."

Yuugi felt his chest tighten guiltily. "... I'm sorry, Bakura-kun..."

"Ah, no, it's- please don't. I'm just being kind of weird today. It's probably just because of what happened. I guess getting sick makes people feel isolated. But, no, I think I'm fine now. I'll definitely be in school tomorrow."

"H-hey, my mom wanted me to see if you'd come over for dinner tomorrow," Yuugi asked, cradling the phone in two hands.

"Really? That- I mean, I don't want to impose or anything," Bakura murmured.

"It's no trouble, I mean, she likes you because she says you're a good influence. She thinks Jounochi-kun and Honda-kun are too loud," Yuugi forced a little laugh. "And she really likes having company over."

"In that case, I'd really like that," Bakura's voice came through eager and happy. How lonely was he?

"That's great! You can come over to my place after school and we'll study together, in case you have any questions about what you missed today," Yuugi suggested, smiling into the receiver.

"That sounds really nice," Bakura agreed. "Um, I, gosh, I just realized how late it is. I should really let you go. You need to, well, I need to sleep too, I guess. I don't want to miss my alarm and be late for school."

"Okay," Yuugi sad, nodding. "I- I guess I'll see you there then."

"Definitely. I'll see you."

Yuugi folded his phone shut and stared at it in his hand for a while. "... He's lonely," he whispered.

... Yes... but that doesn't mean the situation he was in before was better. He has to learn how to live and have normal friends.

Yuugi nodded slowly and set the phone on his night stand.

...

Saturday afternoon Anzu dragged everyone to the kareoke parlor near school. There were other students from Domino Senior-High there too and it was fairly lively but not so crowded as to be uncomfortable. When somebody picked a silly song from a popular TV show, everyone started clapping the rhythm and laughing.

Ryou smiled, eating a frozen yogurt and enjoying the feeling of being surrounded by people as he watched a girl who was a first-year at their school get up and sing. Jounochi and Honda were arguing over something happening on Jounochi's DS screen and Anzu had pulled Yuugi over to the selection monitor to pick out a duet.

He was slightly startled by the proximity when someone leaned down right next to him, an arm on the back of the booth just over Ryou's shoulder, and grinned at him. "You're cute," the stranger said, flashing white teeth. "What's your name?"

Ryou flushed and lowered his head a bit, stammering. "I, um, I'm a boy."

The man laughed. "I know," he said in a voice filled with amusement. "Is that a problem for you?"

Ryou looked up, flushing a bit darker, and considered the man briefly before looking back down. He looked to be in his early twenties, clean-shaven with stylish hair and clothes. Maybe a college student. "Mm, well, perhaps not," Ryou whispered, fidgeting. "B-but the mistake has been made before..."

"Well, you are very pretty," the man said with a chuckle. "I'm Nakamura Kisho," he gave Ryou another smile, tilting his head to the side a bit. "Do you have a name, or are you just called 'boy'?"

Ryou laughed nervously, his face on fire. "I, um, Bakura Ryou," he murmured.

"That's pretty." Nakamura smiled wider. "What are you doing after this, Ryou?" he asked.

Ryou curled his toes and bit his lip, reaching new levels of embarrassment at the familiarity with which the older man addressed him. "I- I- well- I didn't- I didn't have plans..." Ryou stammered awkwardly.

"No? It'd be a shame for someone as cute as you to just go home early on a Saturday night," Nakamura said softly. Ryou thought he could still here that charming smile, but he was too embarrassed to look up. "Let me buy you dinner?"

Ryou started to hyperventilate and he was sure his face must have been red as a tomato.

"Hey ass-hole! What's your problem?" Ryou jumped as Jounochi's loud voice cut through the hum of activity around them. He looked over to see Jounochi and Honda had forgotten the DS momentarily and were glaring suspiciously at Nakamura.

"Jounochi-kun, I- I- Please don't-" Ryou stuttered helplessly.

"Ah, I'm sorry I disturbed you!" Nakamura said cheerfully, giving Jounochi a friendly wave with one hand and pressing a napkin into Ryou's palm with the other. "I was just asking your friend what flavor that was," he explained, gesturing to Ryou's slightly melted frozen yogurt.

Jounochi turned around in the booth and glared after Nakamura as he disappeared back around to the front of the parlor. Honda leaned against the table and gave Ryou a serious, concerned look, "Hey, Bakura, did that guy say something to you?"

"N-no, Honda-kun! That's- It's all right!" Ryou protested.

"What's wrong?" Yuugi asked, finally returning to the table with Anzu trailing behind him.

"Aw, some creepy guy tried to mess with Bakura. I chased him off," Jounochi announced, still scanning the patrons closer to the front.

"Bakura-kun, are you all right?" Anzu asked, giving him a worried look.

"It- it's nothing!" Ryou blurted, his face burning. "I'm fine!"

"Yeah, he's not coming back," Jounochi agreed with a pleased nod, and plopped back down in his seat looking triumphant.

"Well, if you're okay..." Yuugi said, looking doubtful.

"I said I'm fine!" Ryou insisted, shaking his head. When the attention had finally diverted back to the activities of the karaoke parlor, Ryou glanced around to make sure his friends were occupied with subjects other than himself, and then held up the napkin Nakamura had given him. There was a phone number written in ball-point pen across it. Ryou bit his lip, fighting an excited little smile.

...

So I guess that puts us at- FOUR! FOUR BAKURAS! HAH HAH HAH HAH! But, no, I wasn't actually planning Mot, he kind of... came out of nowhere. I'd already assigned that as the name for Malik's yami and decided to link him to Bakhura's parasite like that, and, this of course doesn't make any sense out of context. I got Mot and Sek off of Wikipedia, listed as Apep's primary servants. Apep being the guy they stole Zork's resume from. Mot as a not-dead character only came to my head last night, when I should have been sleeping, and suddenly I was writing up a storm. I never expected him to be so camp though... That was a surprise...

So anyway, oh God, I've just committed myself to multiple chapters. Crap. But this was getting really long and I wanted some feedback to help me figure out stuff here. Don't worry, I promise the OC won't last long, he's a plot-device.

Some hesitance with this turn of plot, because #1, I hate using OCs in any parts bigger than 'Doorman A' or something (I just made him up last night and named him at random, so I assure you I don't have months of obsession devoted to this character and you can take him as you will) but I really didn't want to use any minor canon characters for the plot-device I've put him in.

The #2 thing that made me nervous is that rape has been getting pretty over-used as a plot-device in recent years (a friend says 'rape is the new dead-parents!') and I didn't want it to just feel like I was throwing rape in there as 'Instant-Trauma! Just add water!' or something, but I started pushing Mot around and I really got into a creepy incubus angle for him. Sek is more of a pissed-off, work-focused demon, while Mot is more carnal. I'm completely making this up, by the way, I seriously doubt either demon had much real character development in the old scriptures.

Well, in any event, that's the beginning of this... thing. Happy to answer questions and PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, **REVIEW!**


	2. Chapter 2

Nakamura Kisho was in his third year at Domino City University. He was studying industrial design and had two scholarships because of his excellent grades. Not that he bragged. It was just conversation. The place he took Ryou was a trendy fusion restaurant with exposed steel support beams and small cup-like lights attached to taught, double-wires strung above the tables. The prices on the menu made Ryou feel uncomfortable, but when he tried to order something inexpensive, Nakamura somehow cajoled him into a huge plate of fettucini alfredo heaped with grilled salmon.

After dinner they strolled together through the downtown core until nearly eleven, before taking the long way back to Ryou's apartment. "I- I'm really glad I met you, Nakamura-san," Ryou murmured as they paused in front of his building.

"Kisho," he corrected, smiling charmingly.

"K-Kisho..." Ryou mumbled, lowering his burning face to stare at the ground. He felt Kisho's hand on his chin, gently lifting his face and he quickly stammered. "D-do you- would you like some tea?"

Kisho raised an eyebrow, looking amused. "Sure. That sounds great," he said with a nod, and followed Ryou up the steps. "We're not going to wake your parents or anything?" he asked, watching Ryou unlock the door.

"Ah, no. I- I live alone," Ryou said, stepping in and holding the door for Kisho.

"Wow, at your age? You're a high schooler, right?" Kisho sounded impressed. "That's pretty fancy. Must be fun, huh?"

Ryou tilted his head noncommittally, closing the door. "... Actually... I think I hate it," he said quietly, walking past Kisho towards the kitchen. 'Please come in.'

Kisho was quiet a moment, considering that comment, then he asked "So how'd that happen then? Your folks live out in the country or something?"

Ryou shook his head, fetching the kettle and filling it with water. "M-my father's occupation keeps him traveling most of the time," he explained. "I used to live with my grandmother, when I was younger, but when I came to Domino City I got my own place."

Kisho was clever enough to hear what Ryou hadn't said, and he didn't ask about his mother. "... Sounds tough," he said quietly.

"... My father sends me a stipend, so I don't have to work a job or anything... So it's- it's okay... I just... I wish I weren't alone so much..." Ryou dropped two teabags into cups and leaned against the counter, not quite looking at Kisho.

"You seem to have some pretty good friends though. Really looking out for you." Kisho smiled at him.

Ryou laughed softly and nodded. "Jonouchi-kun can be kind of stupid sometimes," he said with a fond grin. "But they're good people."

"That's what matters." Kisho's hand brushed Ryou's, sitting on the counter, and then curled around his fingers. Ryou stepped closer to him, and lifted his head a little bit. Kisho's other hand slid under his chin and lifted it a bit higher, then his lips lightly touched Ryou's.

The kettle boiled and then switched itself off. Ryou ignored it, stepping forward and pressing into the kiss.

...

It was a bit after eleven when Yuugi climbed the stairs to Bakura's apartment. He knocked on the door and stood there waiting for a few minutes, before trying again, louder. Several minutes passed and Yuugi pulled out his phone, flipping through the contacts to Bakura's number.

The door opened just before he hit 'send' and Bakura stood there dressed in a bathrobe and looking very flushed and embarrassed. "Yuugi! What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice shaking slightly in agitation.

Yuugi blinked. "I, well, um, we were going to go to the mall today..."

"Oh! Oh _shoot!_ I forgot!" Bakura said, wincing and slapping his forehead. "I- I'm so sorry Yuugi, it's just, well, something came up. I- I don't think I can come to the mall today, there's just- something came up."

"Is... something wrong, Bakura-kun?" Yuugi asked, frowning.

"N-no! Everything's fine! I just forgot! Everything's fine! I just can't go because- because I'm entertaining right now!"

"Entertaining?" Yuugi blinked, puzzled. "In your bathrobe?"

Bakura abruptly turned beat-red. As Yuugi reprocessed what he had just said, and Bakura's reaction to it, he suddenly felt his own face heat up.

"O-oh," Yuugi mumbled, feeling suddenly very blank. "I- er- I- well I should probably- Um- Sorry to disturb you, Bakura-kun! I- I'll see you at school tomorrow, okay?" Without waiting for a response, Yuugi turned and bolted for the stairs, his face on fire.

...

Ryou leaned against the closed door and felt like he was about to have a heart-attack and die from sheer embarrassment. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten about making plans with Yuugi. And Yuugi, of all people to encounter him in _this_ situation! He dropped his face into his hands and moaned.

"You okay?"

Ryou glanced up at Kisho's face, peeking around the corner. "Ungh... can you die of embarrassment?" Ryou whined and put his head back against the door.

Kisho laughed softly. "Well, I'm not premed so... probably can't answer that," Kisho said, offering him a lop-sided grin and leaning against the wall. "One of your friends from yesterday?"

"The one that's probably never had a dirty-thought in his life..." Ryou sighed.

"Unless he's four years old, I refuse to believe that." Kisho held up a hand and beckoned, smiling with just a hint of smugness. He'd put on his pants but he was still shirtless and oh so warm and inviting looking.

Ryou's flush renewed somewhat and he smiled coyly in response, before walking over into Kisho's arms and leaning against him. He closed his eyes and sighed at the feeling of arms encircling him and a kiss to his forehead, temple, cheek - he turned his head - mouth.

"Did you have plans with your friends today?" Kisho asked quietly.

"N-no, it's all right- I mean- if you needed to do something, it's fine, but-" Ryou stammered.

"No classes on Sunday," Kisho replied, smiling against Ryou's lips.

Ryou slid his fingers up Kisho's neck and into his short hair. He leaned his forehead against Kisho's neck and slowly inhaled the smell of his skin, holding the breath a moment before letting it out in a contented sigh. "D-d'you have more condoms?" he mumbled.

"I... could get more," Kisho answered in a slightly doubtful tone. "You're not sore or anything?"

"Not really," Ryou lied easily.

"... You're sure?"

"Mhm." Ryou nodded. "Are you hungry? I could make breakfast now..."

"That would be amazing," Kisho said, kissing his ear.

...

"I- I'm really sorry about yesterday!" Bakura announced before class on Monday, dipping an apologetic bow, his face quite pink. "Please excuse my forgetfulness!"

"No! It's okay! I- It's fine! I should have probably called ahead anyway! And- I mean, not that- I'm sorry I woke you on your day off!" Yuugi protested, just as flustered.

"... What the hell is this?" Jonouchi wondered, looking back and forth between the two. "What are you two all freaked out about?"

Their homeroom teacher arrived and called the class to order before that question could be answered, and both Yuugi and Bakura had a lot of difficulty paying attention during the first half of the day. By lunch, Jonouchi was practically climbing the walls in his curiosity and no sooner had the arithmetic teacher left the room than he was pouncing on Yuugi's desk demanding, "What happened yesterday, huh?"

"Jonouchi-kun! It's- well- It's nothing, I mean-" Yuugi stammered, reddening again.

"I forgot that I had made plans to go to the mall with Yuugi and I accidentally double-booked," Bakura spat out quickly, staring at his desk.

Jonouchi frowned, looking rather let-down. "That's it?"

"Maybe you should mind your own business, Jonouchi," Anzu said, sitting down in the chair next to Yuugi's and setting her lunch on the desk.

"Screw that!" Jonouchi scoffed. "What were you doing then, Bakura?"

Bakura flushed and Anzu shot Jonouchi an annoyed glare. "I- I had a date..." Bakura mumbled.

"Aw, Jou, you embarrassed him!" Honda proclaimed with a smile that looked quite amused but not malicious. "Don't sweat it, Bakura, Jou's only jealous because he's got no prospects whatsoever."

"No, that's _you_," Jonouchi snapped, glaring at Honda.

Anzu just giggled, delighted at the development and leaned forward in her seat, lunch forgotten and eyes shining. "That's so great, Bakura-kun! What's their name?"

Bakura flushed a deeper shade of crimson and stared down at his folded hands, mumbling very quietly. "... K- Kisho..."

"Huh, Kisho?" Jonouchi mused, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "That's kinda masculine..."

At that moment, Bakura turned bright, fire-engine red, Anzu dropped her face into her hands, Yuugi cringed and Honda cast Jonouchi a vaguely horrified look. Jonouchi blinked in surprise at the sudden silence and just started to look around when Bakura spoke in a very low, flat voice, "What's your point, Jonouchi-kun?"

Jonouchi paused and then his mouth opened slightly and stayed that way for a moment as his face flushed. "Oh. Oh. Er, that is- I mean- I- I didn't mean anything- I- I was- I was just thinking out loud and st- I'm just gonna shut up now, okay?"

"That would be the smartest thing you've done all day," Anzu groaned. "I swear to god, Jonouchi, where were you when they were handing out tact?"

"Sh-shut up!"

"Ignore him," Anzu instructed, pushing a hand against Jonouchi's face. "He's an idiot."

"_Hey!_"

"Is he cute?" Anzu asked excitedly.

"I- I-" Bakura stammered, fidgeting and looking utterly helpless. "... Yes..."

Anzu squealed. "Oh I want to meet him! What's he like? Is he a student?"

"He's at university," Bakura whispered.

"A college boyfriend! This is so exciting!" Anzu giggled, wiggling in her chair.

...

"_And when the Master of Shadows steps upon the sand...?"_

"... Ra's image in the sky will be displaced and the day shall appear as night," Bakhura recited blankly, his head laying on Sek's thigh. "The earth below shall tremble at his step. The stars shall fall from the sky. The field of reeds shall burn."

"_And you will say...?_" Sek prompted, petting Bakhura's hair.

"... Hail to He Who is Greatest. Hail to the Lord of Chaos whose mighty shadow covers the sun, who brings lightning upon the earth, for he will fell Ra," Bakhura answered, glazed eyes staring unfocused into the darkness.

"_And when he opens his mouth...?_"

"His breath shall shake the-" Bakhura started.

"_Guess who!_"

Bakhura flinched hard and curled his extremities in towards his core as Sek's hand fisted in his hair. Sek shot a glare up to the demon standing next to the hole that used to be a door. "_What do you want now?_" he snapped.

"_Oh, mainly I just got bored,_" Mot answered casually, plopping down on the platform and dangling his legs over the side. "_And you're so very __**tormentable**__, Sek!_"

Sek growled, "_Have you nothing better to do?_"

"_Oh what could be better!_" Mot exclaimed, grinning widely. '_You know I've missed you so terribly the last three thousand years! Did you not miss me?_"

"_It was the most __**pleasant**__ vacation I've ever enjoyed,_" Sek spat. "_And if you don't mind, we were studying verses._"

"_I don't mind at all! I like to hear you recite them!_" Mot proclaimed.

Sek gritted his teeth. "_It is Bakhura who must recite them._"

"_All the better!_" Mot laughed. "_Go then, little Bakhura! Recite your verses!_"

Bakhura made no sound, remaining curled up next to Sek, head in his lap, staring blankly ahead. "_Bakhura, And when he opens his mouth...?_" Sek prompted smoothing his hand over Bakhura's forehead. Bakhura stayed silent.

"_Why will he not recite for me, Brother?_" Mot demanded from the top of the stairs.

"_I should think because he __**hates**__ you, Mot,_" Sek sneered.

"_Ah? Does he not know to save his hate for the Pharaoh and Ra?_" Mot asked raising an eyebrow. "_Perhaps he has forgotten._"

"_He has not __**forgotten**__, it is simply that __**you**__ are so very __**detestable**__,_" Sek scoffed.

"_His defiant attitude makes him a rather poor servant for our Master,_" Mot mused, swinging his legs merrily. "_It seems to me that this horse is not yet broken, my dear Sek._"

"_If you break him too badly, he could cease to be useful,_" Sek reminded him.

"_We are not yet at that point. He is still not following orders,_" Mot pointed out.

"_Remember that we do not want his mind broken, only his spirit._" Sek laid his palm against Bakhura's cheek and he could see Bakhura's eyes turning to glance at him. "_He must be able to tell reality from fantasy._"

"_Of course. Of course. I know. I shall go without the hot iron wedges under the fingernails, and you know I do so __**like**__ the hot iron, Sek!_" Mot whined obnoxiously. "_But then of course one must remember, I don't take orders from __**you**__, dearest,_" he suddenly non sequitured, shifting back to Egyptian to stage a fight for the human.

Sek growled as though greatly insulted and slid his hand under Bakhura's shoulder, carefully shifting the boy to the side as Bakhura cast him a nervous look and scooted back towards the wall. He stood and stepped towards the center of the room, glaring up at the other demon. "_Get out_," he hissed.

Mot laughed out loud, climbing to his feet, and then he took a running leap off the platform. Sek braced himself for the impact, but instead of pouncing, Mot threw out his hands and sent a spiral of material spinning towards him. Sek tried to jump out of the way, unsure of what Mot was doing, but before he could move, his body was bound in a long strip of linen, tying him so tight he could barely struggle, and gagging him so all he could manage was muffled sounds of irritation.

He fell to the floor hard as Mot landed in front of him, cackling. Sek silently swore to himself that he was going to cut Mot's belly open, fill it with ants and sew it back shut. What on _Earth_ had possessed that idiot to use a _real_ binding amulet for this stupid charade?

...

_What r u doing 2nite?_ Ryou texted as he climbed the stairs to his apartment.

A minute later, as he was opening the door, his phone chimed in reply, _Studying english exam tomorrow_

Ryou's face fell a bit in disappointment and he clicked through the keys. _I cud bring u dinner?_

The pause between messages was much longer this time. _Not a good night Friday better_

Ryou bit his lip. It was only Wednesday. Why didn't Kisho want to see him for two whole days? _Not tomorrow?_

Another long pause before the phone announced the new message. _Need to work on project. Deadline soon_

_Can i help?_ Ryou sat down in the corner of his couch and pulled his feet up next to him.

It took almost five minutes for a response. Ryou stared at the phone, his mind starting to run through a list of worst-case-scenario reasons that Kisho's answer could be delayed, until the phone finally chimed again. _Friday better_

Ryou chewed on his lip, feeling desolate. Maybe he should call. Maybe he could convince Kisho that he wouldn't be a distraction, that he really _could_ help. He could bring dinner so that Kisho didn't have to be bothered about it, or make tea or coffee to help him stay alert. Or that he could just sit quietly and study for his own classes, let Kisho work undisturbed, so long as they were together...

Before he could make up his mind whether to call or not, his phone started ringing. His heart leapt at the thought that maybe Kisho was calling _him_, maybe he'd changed his mind... But the caller ID screen read _M Ishtar_, and Ryou frowned at the name, puzzled. He couldn't remember making that entry in his contact-list.

"Hello?" he answered hesitantly.

"Okay- I know you're still mad but will you please listen to me for just _one_ minute? One. I'm really _really_ sorry and I don't know what I was thinking, I didn't have the right to give it to him, I shouldn't have had it in the _first_ place, you're absolutely right and I am a colossal ass-hole and _please talk to me!_" the thickly accented voice on the other end of the line babbled quickly.

Ryou blinked in confusion. "E-excuse me?"

"Do you want me to say it again? Tell me what you want me to say, because you're right! You're right! I'm a dick, I never think about anyone but myself and I don't even know _how_ to take responsibility for my mistakes!" the voice exclaimed.

"I... Who is this?" Ryou asked, totally baffled by the bizarre rambling.

There was a confused pause for several seconds before a doubtful voice answered, "... Malik?"

Malik Ishtar, that was familiar... Ryou thought for a moment and then remembered. "Oh! You were one of the finalists at Battle City!" he said, relieved to have figured it out. "I- I'm sorry, this probably sounds terrible to you, it's just, I don't really remember very much of what happened during the tournament. You see, I wasn't in very good health and- and, well, I had a few black-outs... I'm... I'm really sorry, the whole thing is just kind of a blur..."

There was silence on the line for a long moment. Ryou pulled the phone away to check that the call hadn't been dropped before putting it back to his ear and calling, "Hello?"

There was a click and the screen read _Call Ended_. Ryou frowned at it, baffled.

...

Yuugi was sitting at the table, working on his math, when his phone started ringing. He picked it up and brought it to his ear without checking the screen, staring at a particularly obnoxious algebra problem. "Hello?"

"_What the hell is wrong with Bakura?_" a frantic voice demanded.

Yuugi jumped, accidentally inhaled some saliva and coughed. "M-Malik?"

"He said he doesn't remember Battle City! He doesn't remember _me!_ What the _hell_ did you _do_ to him?" Malik was almost shouting into the receiver.

Yuugi's stomach sank. "I- I- Well..." he hesitated, shifting uncomfortably.

"Well _what?_ What _happened?_"

"Um... he was really freaking out and... it was an accident... and... well..."

"_What? What accident?_"

"The other me kind of maybe erased his memories of the other Bakura..." Yuugi mumbled, trailing off.

There was silence on the other end of the line for nearly two minutes. "... What the hell is wrong with you?" Malik finally whispered, sounding hollow.

"It was an accident!" Yuugi insisted, feeling a guilty knot taking up space in his chest.

"This doesn't happen by accident!" Malik shrieked. "You- Oh my God!" A muffled series of swears in various languages accompanied the sound of something wooden being kicked repeatedly, maybe a door or a table. "Separating them is bad enough! How can you- GOD!" More kicking and swearing. Then labored breath as Malik seemed to calm down a bit. "W-well how is Ry-Bakura reacting? How is he acting?"

"H-he was lonely..." Yuugi mumbled, the knot in his chest pulling a bit tighter. "But- but now he's seeing someone and- and he seems to like him a lot!"

"... Seeing someone?" Malik's voice sounded faintly dumbfounded. "Wha- _who?_"

"A guy at university..." Yuugi said, fidgeting and feeling his face heat up a bit. "I mean, well, he likes guys I guess and..."

"Well of _course_ he-" Malik seemed to stutter to a halt halfway through his exclamation and change gears. "This guy is in _college?_ Doesn't Japan have any statutory _rape_ laws?"

"Er," Yuugi paused, slightly baffled. "Well, Bakura-kun is sixteen..."

"Oh my _God_, that's not the point!" Malik raged. "This is just- shit! That's it! Get your _ass_ down to Egypt, I need to kick it!"

"I..." Yuugi felt absolutely helpless.

"Never mind! I can't talk right now! Too angry! Goodbye!"

"Bye..." Yuugi mumbled as he heard the click.

...

Kisho had a class until 4 on Fridays. Ryou had memorized his schedule. After the high school got out, he caught a train to campus and settled himself on a bench out front, waiting until 4:02 to text Kisho. _Im the gate_

He was pinged back quickly and he smiled at the response. _There in a minute_

Ryou hopped up eagerly when he spotted Kisho and met him right at the gate, beaming happily. "I missed you," Ryou said quietly, smiling up at him.

"Er, yeah," Kisho answered, grinning a little oddly. "Sorry, I... I'm in college." He shrugged. "You probably have plenty of studying to do yourself though, so... Mm, didn't know you were going to come here..."

"Tomorrow's a free day," Ryou pointed out, walking along beside Kisho as they headed toward the train station.

"Well, I'm meeting with my project group in the afternoon, so I can't make any all-day plans or anything," Kisho explained.

"That's all right," Ryou said, smiling and flushing a little. "I could cook for you and have a really nice dinner ready when you're finished."

"Yeah, that- that'd be nice." Kisho nodded.

...

Bakura sighed, looking sadly at the screen on his phone.

"What's wrong, Bakura-kun?" Yuugi asked, looking up from a game with Jonouchi.

"Nothing. Kisho just has a study-group tonight," Bakura answered quietly, slipping his phone away into his pocket.

"That's not a bad idea," Anzu noted cheerfully. "We should study together. Midterms will be coming up pretty soon and I don't have wo- anything to do today."

"I'm up for it," Yuugi agreed, putting down a card that made Jonouchi let out a frustrated noise.

"Okay." Bakura gave them a forced little smile.

...

"No I- I'm going to my parent's house this weekend, Ryou," Kisho's voice sounded a bit frustrated coming through the phone. "There's no class on Monday so they asked me to come home and visit for the long weekend."

"Oh," Ryou mumbled, his heart sinking a bit. He'd known about the school-holiday and he'd been hoping that they could spend the break together. He supposed it was too early to expect Kisho to introduce Ryou to his parents... "Y-you'll be back Monday evening? Maybe I could make you dinner."

"No, I don't have class until noon on Tuesday so I was going to come back that morning," Kisho explained. "The commuter trains will be a lot less crowded then."

"Oh. Yes. That makes sense," Ryou agreed, nodding to his empty living room where he sat curled in the corner of the couch. "I... Will you call me? It's just- It's a long time and I'll miss you..."

"... Yeah, I'll try to give you a call Saturday night, but my aunt and uncle are coming over for dinner, so I don't know late that'll go."

"That's fine," Ryou said, nodding again.

...

Ryou spent Saturday night staring at his phone. He was sitting on his bed with his knees tucked under his chin, looking down at the cell phone lying on his comforter. He glanced at the clock. It was past eleven. What if Kisho didn't call because he was worried that Ryou might be asleep?

Ryou picked up the phone and wrote a quick text. _Im awake dont worry about waking me_

He put the phone back down on the comforter and waited. Ten minutes later, it finally rang and Ryou picked it up on the first ring. "Kisho?" he asked.

"Hi Ryou. I called because I said I would, but y'know, I got up at 5 this morning because my cousins were taking me somewhere, and I'm really pretty tired..."

"I- I understand," Ryou mumbled, his heart sinking. "I just- I just wanted to hear you..."

"Yeah, it's good..." Kisho yawned. "So then I can say good night to you, y'know?"

"Yeah..." Ryou nodded. "I wish you were here..."

"... I'll be back soon..." Kisho said. "But maybe we should both get some sleep now, okay?"

"Okay." Ryou nodded again. "Good night, Kisho."

"Good night, Ryou."

...

Ryou was frying an egg when the phone rang. He forgot the egg completely and scrambled to get the phone to his ear. "Kisho?"

"Huh? No... Um, this- this is Malik Ishtar..."

"Oh, oh, I'm sorry. Hello," Ryou said, disappointed.

"You're expecting a call?" the accented voice asked.

"No... not really..." Ryou shook his head. "I... Hello again. I suppose our last conversation ended a bit abruptly."

"Ah, yeah, sorry about that," Malik said, sounding a bit awkward. "I kind of freaked out. I... Look, I know you don't remember me, but I wanted to see how you were because I've kind of been worried about you..."

"That's very kind," Ryou said. "I- Well, I've been in much better health recently. I haven't had any black outs since the Battle City tournament and I've put on a little weight- in a good way."

"That- that's good... You were... kind of skinny," Malik said quietly. "... Are you happy?"

"Happy?" Ryou blinked. It could have been taken as fairly casual, but the way Malik asked made it feel like a rather personal question. "I... I'm fine..."

There was a long pause. "I... I wish I could..." Malik coughed. "I've been meaning to call you for a while, but the time difference, I keep thinking of it when it's midnight there..."

"That's very kind of-" Ryou was suddenly cut off by the smoke detector wailing an alarm. He yelped, nearly dropping the phone on the floor, and grabbed the frying pan off the stove, putting it in the sink and dumping water over the blackened egg. "I'm sorry about that!" he said into the phone as he grabbed a fan off the counter and waved it at the smoke detector.

"Are you all right?" Malik sounded worried.

"Oh, yes, I just forgot something on the stove. Thank you for your concern." Ryou continued to fan the smoke detector even after it stopped screaming.

"... Concern... Yeah," Malik answered quietly. "... Y'know, it seems like you're busy, so I'm going to let you go."

"Oh, a-alright." Ryou nodded, lowering the fan for a moment and staring hard at the smoke detector. "It was a pleasure speaking with you, Ishtar-san," he said.

"... Yeah. Okay. Bye." The call cut out just as Ryou was opening his mouth to say good-bye. He glanced at it briefly, checking that it had been hung up and not dropped, and then he checked to see if he'd gotten any texts from Kisho in the last five minutes.

...

It was a Thursday when Kisho answered his door at 8-o-clock at night to find Ryou standing there, wide, brown eyes full of too much emotion. Ryou launched himself forward, wrapping his arms around Kisho and clinging desperately. "I n-needed to see you," he whispered.

Kisho stood motionless, his hand still on the doorknob. "... Ryou..." his voice was frustrated, maybe even exasperated.

"I- I just- I haven't seen you in days and I was so lonely and I _needed_ you," Ryou babbled.

"... Ryou, this really isn't good..." Kisho said in a strained voice.

"I know. I know. I should have called first. It's just, I was at the store and then I went to the station without even thinking about it and then-" Ryou tried to explain.

"That- That's not what I mean," Kisho sighed, catching Ryou's shoulders and pushing him back a little ways so they could see each other's faces. "... Ryou, I am overwhelmed..."

"I- I don't understand," Ryou mumbled.

Kisho looked pained. He bit his lip for a moment and then tried to start again. "It just seems like you need a lot more than I can give you, Ryou." He glanced away for a moment but then forced himself to look Ryou in the eye again. "I'm- I'm just a student, Ryou. I don't have enough time for you and- and I can't be who you need me to be."

Ryou was shaking. He could feel tears burning at his eyes. "I don't understand," he said again.

Kisho closed his eyes and pursed his lips for a moment. "I can't _do_ this, Ryou," he forced out. "I can't _be_ with you. It's- it's not _healthy_... for _either_ of us." He stared into Ryou's eyes apprehensively.

Ryou blinked. Tears slid down his cheeks and his lip trembled. He dropped his head and nodded. "Okay," he whispered, staring at the ground, watching a tear slap into the concrete next to his shoe. "Okay," he repeated.

"Ryou..."

"I'm sorry to have troubled you..." Ryou stepped away from the door and turned slowly in the direction of the stairs. "I should be getting home..."

Kisho made a worried, helpless sound, "Ryou, it's really late. Let me walk you."

"No!" Ryou nearly shouted. He stood in place for a moment, shaking all over. "No. You can't come if you're not going to stay," he whispered.

There was a dejected sigh behind him. Ryou didn't look. "... I'm sorry, Ryou," Kisho said quietly.

"Yes." Ryou nodded numbly and walked away, at first slowly, dragging his feet, but by the time he got to the stairs he was running. He hit the street and kept running to the end of the block and around the corner, before collapsing against the side of a building and sobbing.

...

...

When I was writing a setting for their date, I was like 'What's the trendy type of restaurant that the students with daddy's credit card hang out at? Thai places or Fusion places.' But then, a 'Fusion' restaurant in the US tends to be Japanese/Thai/Korean and I was like 'Hm... what would a trendy fusion restaurant have in Japan...' Well, I know Italian food is very fashionable... I figure a fusion place in Japan would probably be Spanish/French/Italian... So uh... The grilled salmon fettuccini alfredo is something I once got at an Italian restaurant in France... MAKES PERFECT SENSE!

A note on ages, I'm putting Kisho at 22. Now the age spread of 16/22 (or rather, teenager/adult) may say 'RED-LIGHT!' in a lot of Westerner's heads, but in Japanese culture, that's actually pretty normal. The classic example is Sailor Moon, in the English version they kind of didn't mention that Mamoru/Darien was in college while Usagi/Serenity was in her third year of junior-high... Whereas with American culture, people look at teenage and college-age good matches for dating in terms of two people who should be on a similar intellectual level, in Japan it's more in terms of who would be good to marry four years down the road. So... Yeah, I'm just mentioning this to point out that Kisho isn't creepy or anything.


	3. Chapter 3

Yuugi flipped open his phone, even though he knew it wouldn't have any service here, and scrolled through the phone book to find Bakura's number. He set the phone down on his knee while he dialed the code for a prepaid international calling card into Rebecca's phone and then punched in his friend's number. The phone ran through a series of irritating sounds as it processed the international call and then finally started ringing.

"Hello?" the voice on the other end asked when it picked up.

"Bakura-kun! It's Yuugi!" Yuugi said, smiling into empty space. "How are you?"

"Oh. Yuugi. You've been gone... a while..." Bakura's voice sounded listless and slightly squished, like maybe he was laying down while he talked. "Are you having a nice... tournament or something?"

"Something like that," Yuugi agreed, frowning in concern. "It's over now. Are you okay, Bakura-kun?"

"Okay? Sure. Sure. Just peachy. I got a 92 on the end of term exams. Which you missed..." A note of irritation bled into Bakura's voice. "When are you just going to drop out? It's not like you're ever going to graduate when you keep taking off like this."

Yuugi drew in his shoulders, feeling scolded and embarrassed. "I, well, I got special dispensation from the school and they said I can take the exams next week..." he explained, fidgeting.

"Oh. Right. Of course. I forgot that you're a huge star and bring more attention to our little podunk school than all of the sports teams combined," Bakura drawled.

"... Bakura-kun, are you mad at me?" Yuugi asked, shifting uncomfortably.

There was a sigh on the other end of the line. "... No... I'm just irritated, I guess... Maybe I'm jealous or something... You all took off so suddenly and then those annoying girls decided to adopt me and they've been eating lunch with me every day and talking about shopping and fashion and stupid magazines... It's really annoying. It's like I can feel my brain-cells committing suicide every time they open their mouths."

Yuugi laughed. "I'm sorry, that's really terrible. The... thing is over, so we'll be back soon."

"Doesn't really matter now. School's on break," Bakura sounded tired. Or depressed.

"... How is Nakamura-san?" Yuugi asked, hoping to brighten the mood a little.

"... He dumped me three weeks ago," Bakura answered quietly and Yuugi winced. "Then Taku dumped me a week and a half ago, Hiroshi never called me back after- and Ryoichi dumped me yesterday."

Yuugi's stomach sank and his lips dropped into a little open-mouthed frown. "I... I'm sorry, Bakura-kun..." he mumbled.

"... It's not your fault," Bakura replied dismissively.

It was though. Bakura just didn't know it, couldn't know how much Yuugi's fault it was.

"There's something wrong with me..." Bakura mused quietly. "It's unfortunate... I wonder why it's happening all of a sudden..."

Yuugi bit his lip and closed his eyes, guilt gnawing at him. "I... I'm not a very good friend... I shouldn't have just left like that when you were hurting..." he whispered.

"... Why not? Everybody else does," Bakura said bitterly. "... I'm sorry, I'm... I'm being rude to you and you don't deserve it."

"No that's... that's okay... I... I don't mind..." Yuugi mumbled, knowing he deserved every word and more. "I... I'll try to book a flight today, and come back there as soon as I can."

There was a pause for several seconds before Bakura replied in a soft, despondent voice, "Don't trouble yourself."

"... You're not a trouble, Bakura-kun," Yuugi murmured, staring at his feet, feeling faintly ill with himself.

Bakura started laughing, a bitter, miserable laugh that only lasted a second or two before he quieted again. "... I'm tired..." he said with a heavy sigh after a few moments. "I should go to bed..."

"O-okay..." Yuugi nodded and pursed his lips for a moment, trying to control his voice. "I... Take care of yourself, okay? I'll come see you as soon as I get back to Japan."

"... Okay..."

There was a faint beep as the call cut out and Yuugi glanced down at the screen, its display reading _Call Ended_ in English. He stared at it for a moment before dialing back into the account for his calling card and looking up another number in his phone book.

...

Malik pulled his phone out of his pocket and glanced at the screen. Some 800-number. To reject or not to reject... He hit the send button and put it to his ear. "We don't want any," he opened with English, a good default-language, when in doubt.

"Ah... moshi-moshi? Malik-kun?" the voice on the other end asked. Japanese it was.

"Hi, Yuugi," Malik said, dropping back and laying himself out along the couch, staring up at the ceiling. "What's up?"

"Ah, well, I- I was just wondering if you'd talked to Bakura-kun lately..." Yuugi mumbled, making it hard to understand what he was saying, but Malik easily recognized the name.

"... No..." he answered quietly. What would he do that for? So Ryou could talk to him like a total stranger some more? In the too-polite kind of voice that asks 'Would you like fries with that?' The kind of voice that signs letters with 'sincerely.' No, Malik really didn't need another dose of that. "Why?"

"I... Well, there was a thing... and... Jonouchi and Honda and Anzu and I have kind of been out of country for... a while... and... I think Bakura-kun's getting worse..." Yuugi's voice was soft and halting.

Malik frowned, his attention effectively snared by the comment. "What do you mean, _worse?_" he demanded. "Worse how?"

"Well... I guess that guy he was seeing... he broke up with Bakura-kun and... and I wasn't even there to just... be there for him... and... he said he's been dumped by three other guys since then... and..." Yuugi's voice shook. "I don't know... he's just really depressed and I don't know how to fix it."

Malik bit his lip so hard he tasted blood and he glared at nothing, trembling slightly. He closed his eyes and tried to rein in his emotions but he didn't seem to have managed it very well when he responded. "You give him back his fucking _Ring_ is what you do _God damn it!_" He bit his lip again and shook his head slightly.

"I..." Yuugi's voice was hesitant, a hint of hopefulness in the sound. "Would that- No. You know that isn't an option, Malik," the timber and tone changed halfway through, telling Malik that he wasn't speaking to Yuugi anymore.

"... You shouldn't have done that to him..." Malik whispered, he was shaking again. He was just so _pissed-off_ at the Pharaoh and everything else. "... You've destroyed them both."

"The Spirit of the Ring is infected with a parasite and allowing it to control Bakura as well is playing right into its hands," the Pharaoh retorted. "Even with a second soul weighed in the balance, the cost of that soul is hardly equal to the damage the parasite could do, and it isn't as if the soul in question is an innocent."

Malik seethed. He resisted the urge to smash his phone into pieces. He choked down his anger long enough to speak through gritted teeth. "And what about Ryou? How much is _his_ soul worth?"

"After a period of adjustment, I have every confidence that Bakura will be better off without the Spirit of the Ring," the Pharaoh's voice answered without missing a beat. Malik wondered how many times he'd repeated the same thing to Yuugi.

"You are so full of _shit!_" Malik shouted, kicking his feet against the arm of the couch. "You don't know _one fucking thing_ about them!"

"I know that Bakura should never have had the Spirit of the Millenium Ring possessing him in the first place," the Pharaoh said in too calm a voice. "It unbalanced his life irreparably."

"Kind of like how Yuugi would be a _million_ times better off without a shit-head like _you_ invading his mind?" Malik demanded.

"... Likely so," the Pharaoh said quietly.

"_Shut the fuck up!_" Malik screamed, pulling at his hair in frustration. "God damn it, I was talking to _Yuugi!_ Get _your_ stupid ass off the line!"

There was a slight pause, then Yuugi's hesitant voice came again. "I... I'm sorry... I..."

"I don't even care!" Malik snapped. "... Yuugi, listen, even when magic is involved, memories don't just disappear selectively. They can be repressed or destroyed, and destroying them will generally leave some pretty significant signs. If you haven't seen anything to suggest that Ryou's been brain-damaged, then his memories are still inside of him somewhere, they're just being blocked by the spell the Pharaoh put on him."

Yuugi was silent for a long time. "... He said it couldn't be undone..." he whispered.

"Well maybe he doesn't know _how_. Anything dealing with a person's mind is damn tricky... But Ryou made his own spell, a while ago, tying the Thief and himself together... If you could make him invoke it-"

"Stop."

"I told you I wasn't talking to _you!_" Malik snarled.

"You are being far too emotional, Malik, and you're not thinking rationally. I respect that you were on friendly terms with the Spirit of the Ring once, but I will not let you manipulate Yuugi to satisfy some misplaced sense of guilt you've developed," the Pharaoh said in a firm, authoritative voice.

"Oh _fuck you!_" Malik shouted, pulling the phone away from his ear and glaring it as he mashed down the end-call button. He glared at the screen for a moment longer before flinging the phone away and rolling over, curling himself into a fetal ball with his face pressed into the couch cushions.

Malik had promised himself that he was going to stop blaming the Pharaoh for everything, but God damn it, this _was_ his fault! And maybe Malik wasn't the real victim, maybe he didn't have the right to complain, but the Pharaoh had taken something from _him_ too. The most important week of his life, his first friends -_more_ than that- the first time he had felt genuinely free, it all may as well have been nothing but a dream if he was the only person who remembered it.

Conspiratorial grins and shared laughter, curious kisses and experimental touches may never have happened now, who's to say that they did? Every record but the imaginings of one lonely teenager had been erased. Malik screamed into the couch cushions and clawed at the decorative fringe.

Malik had fallen into infatuation with a dichotomy. And 'infatuation' was all he could rightfully call it, because he'd betrayed them both as badly as it's possible to betray anyone. _He'd_ given the Millenium Ring to the Pharaoh. So caught up in the flurry of activity, the relief, the confusion, the realizations and forgiveness, he'd utterly forgotten Ryou and the Thief. Because he was stupid and selfish. Because he didn't love anyone but himself.

His self-defamation was interrupted by the feeling of a cool hand touching the side of his face. Malik pulled away from the cushion a bit to look up at Ishizu, who was settling herself on the edge of the couch, looking down at him.

"I don't deserve your pity, Sister," he whispered.

"You are my brother, Malik," Ishizu said in a soft, warm voice. "You do not need to _earn_ my love."

Malik closed his eyes, feeling Ishizu's hand rest on his shoulder and still there. "You are worried about your friend?" she asked quietly.

"... I tried to trust the Pharaoh, because I've spent so long rebelling against him... but he's just a human, isn't he? He's not perfect or righteous or anything... I trusted him to be better than me, but it wasn't my _own_ life I trusted him with, it was one I didn't have the right to be wagering at all," Malik said slowly. "Which did I do wrong? To become emotionally involved with an enemy of the Pharaoh... or to betray him _to_ the Pharaoh? Which one was the wrong thing, Ishizu?"

Ishizu sighed. "I don't know, little brother," she said. "Your duty as a tomb-keeper is to the Pharaoh, but I can not say what your duty to yourself might be."

...

After touching down back in Domino City, Mokuba kept them busy with paperwork for nearly an hour and then dragged them on an impromptu tour of Kaiba Land. It was another two hours before Anzu finally got tired enough that Mokuba's devastatingly pouty face no longer swayed her in her insistence that they really needed to go home and sleep off the jet-lag.

In the car, as Isano was driving them to their respective homes, Anzu had suggested that they go visit Bakura first thing in the morning. Everyone had agreed, but as Yuugi sleepily built himself a sandwich, standing at the kitchen counter, answering his grandfather's excited questions, worry wormed its way through the haze of sleep-depravation.

He owed it to Bakura to go see him right away. He owed him at _least_ that. And so he had put his shoes back on and headed out, much to his grandfather's protests, and walked the six blocks to Bakura's apartment complex. Now he was sitting on Bakura's couch, smiling in happy relief as they played a cartoony racing game and chatted.

"Mokuba said that Kaiba's not going to be competing in the Grand Prix though," Yuugi noted, his go-cart spinning over an oil-puddle on the TV screen. "I heard that the school actually graduated him, when he left last year. Yutani-kun said that he heard that Kaiba made a bet with the school, and that he sat for all of the third-year's tests last December and got the top marks on every one of them, so the school gave him a diploma."

Bakura snorted. "Isn't it irritating when things come so damn easily to some people?" he sighed. "Why was he even at our school? I heard that he has some kind of super-genius level IQ. And he's loaded. Shouldn't he have been going someplace more prestigious or something?"

"Yeah, I don't know," Yuugi agreed, shrugging. "I mean, it _is_ the closest school to his house, but he has a _chauffeur_, so it really doesn't seem like that should matter much..."

"Probably one of those eccentric millionaire quirks people always talk about," Bakura said with a smile as his go-cart slammed up against a jersey-barrier and ground down the length of it, sparks flying out behind him.

"Ak!" A boulder slammed down on Yuugi's go-cart and then he laughed as it rolled off to reveal his chicken-character smashed into cartoon road-kill.

"I like it when Kaiba hosts tournaments," Bakura noted quietly, hitting a ramp and jumping through a series of hanging rings. "Then you guys stay here instead of running off to some other country."

"... I'm sorry... That was... really thoughtless..." Yuugi mumbled, banking up the side of a tunnel as it curved around.

"No, not really. It's more than just a hobby for you, right? You're the best duelist there is, so it's understandable that you go to all the big events." Bakura splashed into a water-trap and his go-cart bounced around off of giant lily-pads. "I just kind of wonder why Honda and Anzu always go along with you." He didn't say _'and not me'_ but Yuugi could hear it anyway.

"... I... I didn't want to disturb your studies," Yuugi lied lamely. "You're a much better student than me..."

"That's nice of you to say," Bakura replied blandly.

"It's true," Yuugi insisted. "You're always in the top ten for our grade! On every test!"

"Well," Bakura said, his go-cart scrambling to get up a muddy bank as it tried to slide him back down into the water-trap. "I suppose I have a lot of time to study."

"... Do you want to come to the Grand Prix? I can get you a comp-ticket," Yuugi asked hopefully. This had all the appearances of being a normal, safe tournament, so surely it would be fine for Bakura to come with him.

"That might be nice..." Bakura said quietly, finally pulling back onto the raceway. "It's summer break, so I'll have plenty of free time."

"Then you should definitely come with us!" Yuugi said eagerly. "You can meet Rebecca and maybe there'll be people there from Duelist Kingdom and Battle City too!"

"That does sound fun," Bakura agreed, smiling. "What about the other finalists from Battle City? There was Kujaku-san and that foreign boy, Malik? He's called me a few times, you know. He seems nice."

Yuugi hesitated. "N-no, I don't think Malik's going to be there," he mumbled. "And Mokuba said that Kujaku-san is out of the country right now and can't be reached."

"That's a shame," Bakura said, his score jumping as he drove through a line of giant, floating coins. "Hmm, Kajiki-san...? He was nice. He didn't make finalist in either of those tournaments though, so he's probably not on the list for this one..."

"Yeah, probably not," Yuugi agreed, relieved that Bakura didn't seem to be preoccupied with the Battle City finals.

...

It was after the third duel of the day that Yuugi looked around and noticed an absence. "Where's Bakura-kun?" he asked sharply.

"Shit! He wandered off!" Jonouchi exclaimed. "Why does he _do_ that?"

"Maybe he's just not that interested in watching other people play games..." Anzu suggested with an exaggerated shrug. "And he doesn't even know Rebecca, so..."

"There he is!" Honda said, pointing to an outdoor café next to the duel arena. "God damn it, he got picked-up again!" he cursed.

"_Vultures!_" Anzu snarled. "What, can they _smell_ the rebound on him?"

"_Easy_, Anzu, _damn_," Jonouchi said, looking rather intimidated by the girl seething next to him.

"Hey, what's going on?" Rebecca called, running up to them, looking rather annoyed at not being lavished with post-victory attention. She latched onto Yuugi's arm and looked up at him, "Yuuuugi, what's wrong?"

"Ah, it's Bakura-kun, he's- he's been going through a difficult time lately and we're all a bit worried about him..." Yuugi explained awkwardly.

"And hyenas are all over the damn place trying to take advantage of his adorable sensitivity!" Anzu declared. "I will not stand for it! Honda! Go intimidate that guy!"

"W-_what?_" Honda boggled at her.

"Go pretend you're Bakura's big angry boyfriend and scare that jerk away!" Anzu commanded.

"I thought Bakura was a boy..." Rebecca said, looking confused for a moment and causing Anzu to grimace slightly.

"Well, yes Rebecca, he's a boy. Who likes other boys. And there's nothing wrong with that," she explained, flushing a bit.

"Oh, you mean he's gay!" Rebecca said brightly and Anzu looked a little relieved. "My Aunt Miriam is a lesbian!"

"Ah, okay. Glad you understand then," Anzu said with a nod and then turned back to Honda. "Honda! Go!" she ordered, waving her hands in a shooing motion.

"Not necessary, Anzu..." Honda said from the corner of his mouth, nodding towards Bakura, who was now hurrying over to them, a half-eaten ice-cream cone in one hand.

"Ah, sorry I didn't see the end, guys. Sorry Rebecca-san. I was talking table-top with s-somebody I met. He was telling me about some of the WarHammer expansions," Bakura explained, looking a little too chipper, with a very slight pinkness to his face.

"_And then he asked for your phone number_..." Anzu grumbled under her breath.

"But anyway, congratulations, Rebecca-san," Bakura said, smiling at the girl.

"Thanks, Bakura-san! Was the gamer-guy you met cute?" Rebecca asked brightly. "Did you get his phone-number?"

Bakura flushed, looking a bit startled, as Anzu slapped her hand over Rebecca's mouth.

...

Toyota Hideyoshi pressed the exceptionally pretty Bakura Ryou down against the floor and sucked on his neck, loving the lusty sounds that he made. If someone had asked him, he couldn't explain why he'd felt so strongly attracted to the pale boy, he'd only ever noticed girls before, but for some reason he was absolutely stricken with lust for this person he'd only met a few days ago.

The Playstation that had been the pretext for this get-together lay forgotten on the living room floor, never even having been plugged into the television. Yoshi pushed himself up a little bit, looking at Ryou's _pretty_ flushed face for a moment, before deciding that he needed more skin _now_ and sat back, balancing himself as he grabbed Ryou's shirt and pulled it up.

Ryou laughed excitedly and held up his arms, facilitating the removal of his shirt and making Yoshi grin. "Hey," Yoshi said, spotting the black ink on the left side of Ryou's chest, "You've got a tattoo! Sexy!"

"That's stupid," Ryou snorted. "I don't get why people keep saying that. I'd never get a tattoo."

Yoshi cocked his head to the side, puzzled. It was very clearly a tattoo, with perfect lines forming something that looked like an ancient language. "But-" he started.

_Ignore it. Look at him. You want him. __**Take**__ him._

Yoshi realized that he really didn't care one way or another about some stupid ink and he dove back down to recapture Ryou's mouth.

...

"_Wrong._"

Bakhura paused, looking down at the character he'd just finished drawing in the damp sand. It was aabt, and he was sure he had the papyrus on the correct side...

"_It crosses four times,_" Sek said firmly, putting his hand over Bakhura's and pulling it across the gap between the papyrus and reed once more.

Bakhura nodded, staring at the stylized web and burning the image, with the correct number of lines, into his memory. "_Move on,_" Sek instructed.

Bakhura nodded again and started on sma, but hadn't gotten past the first three lines when another voice rang loudly through the cell. "_Greetings from the outside world! Did you miss me?_"

Sek made an infuriated sound in the back of his throat and stood up straight, glaring at Mot as Bakhura stayed crouched on the floor where he was, biting down on his lower lip and staring back and forth between the two demons silently.

"_What do you want?_" Sek demanded sourly.

"_I brought a present for Bakhura!_" Mot announced proudly.

Bakhura tasted blood as he bit his lip harder, all his muscles tensed.

"_What are you babbling about?_"

"_Well he was so worried about sweet little Ryou, wasn't he?_" Mot said, jumping down from the platform at the top of the stairs.

Bakhura started and stared at him, eyes wide. What about Ryou? Where was he? What had happened?

"_So I stopped by to check on him this weekend and see how he was doing!_" Mot continued brightly, grinning with his not-quite-human teeth showing.

"W-hat did you d-o to Ry-ou?" Bakhura's voice was dry and cracked; it was the first time he'd spoken in a week or more.

"_Tsk! Such distrust! Of course I wouldn't do anything to hurt the host! His health is __**essential**__, isn't it!_" Mot rebuked, sticking out his lip in a pout. "_If you're going to be like that, I don't see why I should tell you how he's doing!_"

"N-no! Ryou- w-where is- please?" Bakhura whined.

Mot's grin returned, an excited glint in his eyes. "_Well, since you asked so nicely..._" he swooped down and Bakhura didn't have time to recoil before Mot's hands were cupping his face on either side, holding him in place, and sending him images, memories.

_A man, a man Bakhura didn't know, had Ryou pressed down on the floor. It was the floor of Ryou's living room, Bakhura could recognize the couch near them. Ryou was moaning lustily as the stranger molested him. He sounded happy. Fully cooperative. And when the stranger moved to take off Ryou's shirt, Ryou helped._

'_Hey, what's this tattoo?' the stranger asked, his hand brushing over where Bakhura's name was carved into Ryou's flesh._

'_It's nothing,' Ryou replied, smiling seductively up at the stranger._

The scene kept going. On and on. Bakhura tried to pull away from Mot's hands, not wanting to see it anymore, but Mot was stronger than him, as they both knew, and he didn't let Bakhura retreat. Bakhura sobbed and grabbed Mot's wrists, trying vainly to push the hands away, to stop the images from coming. To stop seeing that _stranger_ violating his Ryou. To stop seeing Ryou allow -_encourage_- it to happen.

"Stop... Please..." Bakhura whimpered.

"_Oh but it gets really good here!_" Mot protested, his malicious grin so wide it seemed to split his face in half. "_Isn't it __**nice**__ to see how well little Ryou has been getting on? He's really become quite the __**socialite**__!_"

"S-Sek!" Bakhura cried desperately.

It worked. Suddenly Mot was being kicked back across the floor and Bakhura was rescued and pulled back in the opposite direction, into Sek's ice-cold arms. "_Shhhh,_" Sek breathed next to his ear. "_Calm down. I've got you._"

"I-it's a lie..." Bakhura whispered brokenly. He was shaking, he probably would have collapsed if Sek weren't holding him up.

"_A lie? How __**rude**__!_" Mot exclaimed, rolling back to his feet and then settling down cross-legged in the sand. "_And after I went to all this trouble I went to, making sure he was having a nice time! Although he certainly didn't seem to need __**my**__ help finding new __**friends**__._"

"_Shut up,_" Sek snapped at the other demon. He eased himself and Bakhura slowly to the floor and held him tightly. "_Bakhura, I've told you so many times that human's can't be trusted..._" he reminded quietly.

"N-no! It's Mot!" Bakhura protested and sobbed. "He's _lying!_"

"_Mot is many things but he's not a liar._" Sek shook his head slowly and smoothed his fingers through Bakhura's hair. "_Humans are the deceitful ones. I've told you that... I told you not to put your faith in that boy..._"

Bakhura bawled like an infant. It couldn't be true. It wasn't possible. Why would Ryou do something like that? Say something like that? How could he just forget Bakhura? Was he glad to be free? Was this what he had wanted all along? Had Bakhura just deluded himself into believing that Ryou cared for him the same way...?

"_Shhhh_," Sek murmured quietly, holding Bakhura tightly and stroking his hair. "_Do not let his traitorous nature upset you little one. He is but a wind through your hair. __**I**__ am the one who has always been with you, remember?_" Sek's fingers slid over Bakhura's cheeks, gently wiping at his tears. "_I have nurtured you and taught you, every day since you were reborn in blood and flame, I have been with you, guiding your hand, giving you strength against your enemies, protecting you while you sleep..._"

Bakhura's breath shook, seemed to rattle inside his lungs, but no more sobs came out, the air was coming more easily as he leaned against Sek's shoulder, _knowing_ what he was saying was the truth. The voice that had always been with him, urging him onward, telling him how to survive... Sek had raised him from the time he was five years old... And he'd never asked for anything, only that Bakhura remember himself, his goal, his _mission_... When had he forgotten it?

Sek's lips brushed against his forehead and Bakhura shivered, wishing they were warm, that his guardian's body didn't radiate that arctic chill that permeated Bakhura's existence. "_Bakhura, I am your mother, your father, your brother, your sister, your friend, your lover..._" Sek whispered to him.

"_Lover?_" Mot's voice broke through, back into Bakhura's awareness, and he flinched, having forgotten the third presence. "_I thought you didn't believe in carnal decadence, Sek!_"

Sek hissed violently. "_Get out!_" Mot said something in the strange, ancient language they sometimes spoke, but Sek just shook his head and said, "_Leave!_"

"_Fine, I have other business to attend to anyway,_" Mot replied in a bored tone and Bakhura could hear a light bump and a scrape of sand as Mot leapt back up to the platform and then away into the nothingness outside the cell.

Sek turned his attention to Bakhura again and went back to stroking his hair. "_You remember, don't you? What you've waited three thousand years to achieve? You may think I have been cruel to you, Bakhura, but I only push you because I care about you too much to let you give up something you have worked so very hard for..._"

"... Yes..." Bakhura mumbled, closing his eyes and leaning more into the cold of Sek's body.

"_I will fight with all my strength to realize your dreams, little one,_" Sek whispered. "_Your victory is my greatest desire. You and I, we will punish the Pharaoh together. And when that glorious day comes, when he has answered for his crimes, I will be with you. As I always have been._"

"... Thank you..."

...

...

This chapter kind of wandered around a lot. This was the in-betweeny bits I always have trouble with, where I go 'Okay, now I have to get from point A to point B... how do I do that...' But! But! Now I'm back on track and I know where I'm going from here! I think there will probably be three more chapters in this fic. The next one (a little bit shorter than the previous ones) is already written and I'll probably post that tomorrow, as I begin the final wind up before merging into the Millenium World arch (which will be a separate fic).

But anyway! I realized that I really need a title for this series! I mean _Making Choices and Taking Chances_, _Bad Religion_, _Interlude_ and future stories that will be in this same miniverse. I don't know, all I've come up with so far is 'Serpentine.' I'm open to suggestions! Suggest a title for this series and stuff! Then it will be less confusing when I can just link the stories together by series-name instead of having to run down the list of all of them!


	4. Chapter 4

"Fuck, I'm hungry," Hirutani Kanaye growled under his breath. He hadn't managed to score any cash that evening, a cop had come by when he was trying to shake down a drunken desk-jockey. The dumb-ass had been too wasted to notice the pig or call out to him, so Kanaye hadn't needed to run, but it had ruined his business transaction. Now he didn't even have a hundred yen to buy shitty coffee out of a vending machine and the streets were pretty well deserted.

If he went down to the entertainment district, there would still be people wandering around there, boozing or wasting their money at pachinko, but most of the buses didn't run after 9pm. It was just stupid that he'd managed to get himself stuck out in a lazy residential zone after hours with empty pockets. His dad lived seven blocks from here. Easily within walking distance. But Kanaye wasn't about to go crawling back to his stoop. He might be out of money, but he wasn't out of pride. That bastard could rot in hell.

Another hunger-pang assaulted Kanaye's belly and he clenched his teeth irritably. It was the right time of night to try dumpster-diving; the local restaurants would have closed up now and the day's spoils would be put out in plastic bags inside covered dumpsters behind the kitchens.

Chinese sounded good tonight, Kanaye decided, and headed for the Peking Palace. It was primarily a take-out place, which meant that there wouldn't be many food-scraps from unfinished meals in their dumpster, there would be neatly packaged boxes of orders that were rejected as incorrect or never picked up. In dumpster-diving terms, styrofoam clamshells were very high-class.

As Kanaye turned the corner into the alley behind the Palace, he froze. Somebody else was already here. He narrowed his eyes, glaring at the punk who dared to beat him here, but the other teenager wasn't into the dumpster yet, he didn't even seem to have even noticed the treasure-trove was there. He was just slumped against the far wall, head lowered and sniffling softly.

Kanaye looked the boy up and down carefully. He was skinny, wimpy-looking, girlish, and sitting next to him, in a nondescript plastic bag with the words _Thank You!_ printed in red across the side, was what looked very much like take-out boxes. The boy gave no indication of having noticed Kayane's approach, he just sat there in the dust, leaning against the building and lost in his own quiet grief.

"Hey!" Kayane called, trying to siphon the irritation he felt at the pathetic boy's presence into making his voice particularly acidic. "What the hell are you doing here, _kid?_"

The boy didn't jump or seem surprised, as though he had been well aware of Kayane standing there, he just hadn't bothered to acknowledge it. That pissed Kayane off. He growled. "Hey! I'm _talking_ to you, _fag!_"

"... Is it a problem?" the boy murmured quietly. "I'm not hurting anything, am I?"

"The _problem,_" Kayane sneered, "is that I asked you a _question_ and you didn't answer it!" He strode right up to the boy and grabbed a handful of his long, wavy hair. "What's'a matter, girly? Your _boyfriend_ dump you?" he scoffed.

"... Yes," the boy replied and caught Kayane off guard.

He let go of the boy's hair and stared at him silently for a minute, not really sure how to respond. Finally he snorted and changed the subject. "What's in the bag, girly?" he demanded.

"... Chinese," the boy said in a flat, emotionless tone. "Want it?" He held up the bag, his arm moving in a stiff, mechanical way, seeming almost disassociated from the rest of his listless body.

Kayane tilted his head to the side a little, intrigued. He accepted the bag and pressed his hand against the bottom, feeling the clamshell boxes inside. "It's cold," he said and scoffed. "No wonder your husband left you if you can't even do _take-out_ right."

The arm that had presented Kayane with the take-out dropped limply back to the ground and a shaky, desolate sigh seemed almost to echo, as though coming from deep in a dark, hollow space. "It's been a while," the boy offered quietly.

"You're a pretty pathetic little bitch-boy, ain'tcha?" Kayane noted, smirking cruelly.

"... Yeah, probably," the boy answered, leaning his head back against the wall so that Kayane could finally see his face, although he was staring into blank space. Doe-eyes and a soft jaw-line; he could go drag and nobody would be the wiser. With the long hair, maybe he _did_ in his spare time.

Over all, he looked extraordinarily... manipulable. "Pretty face..." Kayane said with a smirk, and the boy's eyes flicked up to look at him momentarily. "You must be pretty fucked-up if you can't find a guy who wants to pound your ass."

He could see the boy's jaw tighten briefly with a flash of affronted anger. "I can find them," he retorted, as though saying that somehow saved face. "And I can drive them away just as quickly." He pulled his knees up close to himself and rested his chin on them.

"Hmmm? So I was right then? Fucked-up?" Kayane asked, chuckling. "That why the other fags don't want to fuck your pretty ass? You're too crazy for them?"

The boy snarled, glaring at him. "Oh no, I'm too _needy_ and _clingy_ and _dependant_ and 'Well fuck, Ryou, we're not married!' and 'If I wanted this kind of drama, I'd date a woman!' and 'I can't handle your daddy-issues!' and 'I need my own space, Ryou!'" The boy, Ryou, apparently, squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth silently for a moment, seeming to be some mix of miserable and pissed-off, before slamming his hands down against the ground on either side of him and screaming "FUCK!"

Kanaye was quiet for a while, considering the rant and wondering what kind of 'daddy-issues' the boy had. Ryou lifted his shaking fists off the ground slowly and wrapped his arms around his legs, hugging his knees against himself and starting to sniffle again. "Is- is it that weird? I just don't want to be alone all the time... Why is that weird?" he whispered brokenly.

"S'not weird," Kanaye said slowly, looking Ryou over appraisingly and feeling a slight grin tug at the corner of his mouth. Alone all the time? That was the problem? It reminded Kanaye of his dad's pathetic girlfriend. "It's human. Y'know, 'social-animal' and all. It's weird if people _do_ want to be alone like that. That's the freaks who go live on a mountain and talk to squirrels and shit."

Ryou's head lifted slightly and he looked up at Kanaye through his fringe. The tug at Kayane's mouth pulled more fully into a grin and he knelt down next to the pale boy. "What, your old man kick you out or something? Not me, I up and left on my _own_ damn terms. That bastard was always wailing on me when he wasn't passed the fuck out."

The boy looked at him properly now, Kanaye thought that he looked remarkably like a scared rabbit. "What do you do now?" Ryou asked quietly.

"Whatever the fuck I want!" Kanaye declared. "I don't need that fucker! I'm better off living under a bridge than his shit-hole apartment! The stupid skank he fucks can't cook for shit, so it's not even like there was ever any real food in the place," Kanaye grumbled, and remembered the bag of cold take-out in his hand.

Ryou frowned softly. "_Do_ you live under a bridge?" he asked.

"Sure, when I _feel_ like it!" Kanaye snorted. "Shit, I do what I _want!_"

"... Isn't it lonely?" Ryou asked and looked away.

"Hell no! Bridge is prime real-estate! I've got to beat the shit out of ten guys to get that spot!" Kanaye laughed. Then he sobered a bit, pushing a calculated melancholy tone into his voice "But the thing is, you can't trust nobody, see. Everybody's your enemy, unless they're in your posse, and even if they _are,_ you gotta keep them in line, y'know? Sometimes you've got _brothers_, but you've never got any friends."

Ryou stared at the brick wall ahead of him for a few moments, seeming to consider the statement. "... That sounds lonely to me..." he whispered.

Kanaye chuckled and shook his head. "Maybe. Like some old Chinese proverb or philosophy question or some shit, can you be lonely when you're never alone?"

Ryou looked down again. "If there's no one you can trust, it seems like you might as well be alone," he said.

"Yeah, probably," Kanaye snorted. "Maybe that's why I got out of my old man's place. I'd rather be alone than where his belt can reach me."

"... What's your name?"

Kanaye felt inwardly smug. It seemed like 'clingy' and 'dependant' were understatements when it came to this guy. A more accurate descriptor would be 'absolutely desperate.' "Hirutani Kanaye," he said. "And who are you?"

"... Bakura Ryou..."

"Well, Bakura Ryou," Kanaye said with a grin, holding up the take-out bag with one hand. "This shit's cold. Don't you think it's kinda rude to offer someone cold food? Your place got a microwave or what?"

Bakura Ryou stared at him silently for a moment and then nodded slowly. "Yes," he murmured, taking the bag back and climbing to his feet. Kanaye tried not to laugh as he followed the boy out of the alley and down the street.

...

Ryou wondered what he was doing as he emptied the take-out boxes onto plates to put in the microwave. A guy who he had met _on the street_ less than an hour ago was sitting at his kitchen table, chin leaned on his fist, watching him reheat dinner. Hirutani was a homeless person, maybe even a gangster or something... But he didn't look much older than Ryou... And he didn't seem... bad... just a little rough around the edges...

This was insane! He shouldn't have let Hirutani into his apartment! He should put him out right away! ... But it wasn't fair, to say he was going to heat dinner for the other boy and then not... But after he'd eaten, then Ryou would have to send him out. That was all there was to it.

Even if the apartment would be empty.

And Ryou would be alone again.

He shook himself and pulled a plate out of the microwave, moving the second one onto the spinning tray inside. "D-do you want a fork or chopsticks?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder at Hirutani.

"Fork," Hirutani answered and Ryou looked away, pulling out the flatware drawer. The way Hirutani was staring at him made Ryou feel uncomfortable and embarrassed. The look was... appraising. Like Ryou was some sort of expensive item on the shelf at a store.

Ryou brought the plate and a fork over and set them in front of Hirutani. "Here you are," he mumbled quietly, not meeting the other teen's eyes, and then retreated back into the kitchen as the microwave beeped, announcing that the second plate had finished heating.

"Thanks for the food," Hirutani's voice sounded amused.

Ryou returned to the table and set his own plate down, before settling awkwardly into his seat, staring at the food. "Y-you should probably go... after you finish eating..." he mumbled quietly.

"Expecting someone?" Hirutani asked, there was something like a jeer in his words.

"... No..." Ryou bit his lip.

"So what's the problem? You want to be alone or something?"

Alone? In the empty, sterile apartment, where he had to turn the television and the radios up and plug himself into his MP3 player to drown out the silence? No. No no no "_No!_" Ryou blurted, his head snapping up, his eyes meeting Hirutani's.

Hirutani smirked at him and Ryou looked away. After a few minutes Hirutani spoke again, "It's a nice place. Real high-class. How'd you end up here all by yourself?"

"... My father travels... a lot," Ryou explained quietly.

"And your mom left him?"

"No... She died..." Ryou mumbled. "That's... when my father started traveling..."

"Balls," Hirutani commented. "So what, you're mom's the one who wanted kids and he didn't?"

"... I guess..."

"Nobody wanted me," Hirutani said, and Ryou wasn't sure if it was a strange attempt to cheer him up by comparison. "My mom ran off when I was four and left me with the old bastard."

"... I'm sorry," Ryou said, unsure of how else to respond to such a statement.

Hirutani snorted. There were a few minutes of silence and then Hirutani's voice broke it again. "You're not eating."

"I'm not very hungry," Ryou said.

"Eat it anyway. You're skinny," Hirutani ordered.

It was like... Hirutani was worried about his health...

"Okay," Ryou whispered and started eating his chow mein. After a few bites he looked up at Hirutani again. The other boy was giving him that appraising look once more and Ryou glanced away, his face feeling warm.

"You are a pretty little thing," Hirutani commented. "You could pass for a flat-chested girl."

"I..." Ryou couldn't think of anything to say to that.

"I like it. The androgyny thing. That works for me, y'know?" Hirutani said and Ryou could hear that his mouth was full, though he wasn't looking.

"... Okay..." he mumbled, his face getting hotter.

There was the sound of a fork being laid down on an empty plate and then the squeak of someone pushing a chair back onto two legs. A pause. "What kind of shower you got in a place like this, Western-style?" Hirutani asked.

Ryou's face went nuclear and he choked on the noodles in his mouth, sputtering and coughing and possibly inhaling a bit of one. He coughed for nearly a full minute before managing to catch his breath and stammer, "I- I think you should- If you're finished eating then you- you should g-go now."

The other two legs of Hirutani's chair landed on the linoleum again and Ryou listened to the chair push back and Hirutani stand up. He stared down at his half-eaten dinner and noticed Hirutani's foot in the corner of his vision as the other teenager moved towards _him_ instead of the door. Ryou bit his lip and tried to will his face to cool down, then he felt Hirutani's hand under his chin and he panicked. "Y-you really need to leave! I- I'm serious! Y-you can't just-" he started but was cut off by a forceful kiss.

Ryou squeaked and tried to pull back, but Hirutani just followed, his mouth staying clamped over Ryou's as one hand pressed down on Ryou's shoulder, pinning him in the chair. Ryou felt Hirutani's other hand leave his chin and slide down to Ryou's lap and over his thigh. He grabbed Hirutani's wrist and turned his face away sharply, braking the kiss. "S-stop!" he yelped.

"Are you still hung-up over some dick who leaves you crying outside of a diner?" Hirutani demanded, glaring down at him. "He probably broke up with you over the _phone_, didn't he? And you think that kind of scum is better than _me?_ What, you think I'm trash because my dad's a bigger _shit-head_ than yours?"

Ryou faltered; was that all it was? Was he just being stuck up? Assuming the worst about Hirutani just because of his situation? It wasn't his fault. He didn't ask to be born. He was a victim, and here Ryou was acting like he was some kind of criminal... "I- I don't know..." Ryou whimpered. "P-please, I don't know..."

"You're tired of being alone, aren't you?" Hirutani said in a softer voice, and suddenly his face was down next to Ryou's again, mouth right next to his ear, hot breath tickling maddeningly. "D'j'ya ever think maybe it's the same for me?" he whispered and Ryou felt a knot in his throat. What a horrible, selfish person he must be, to get so caught up in his prejudices and disregard Hirutani's feelings like that... Like he was less important because of what he had come from...

"I- I'm sorry..." Ryou squeezed his eyes shut, feeling tears on his cheeks. "I- I didn't mean..."

He couldn't finish his sentence, although he wasn't even sure how to, because Hirutani's lips were against his again, and his tongue was pressing insistently into Ryou's mouth. Ryou felt a slight thrill of terror and a compulsion to pull away again, but he quashed it down. The hand on his thigh moved again, the need to restrain it having been forgotten, and suddenly Hirutani was cupping his crotch. Ryou gasped into his mouth and his legs spread apart a bit without any conscious command, giving Hirutani better access to grope him.

Ryou's fears were soon drown out under the intoxicating feeling of being _wanted,_ and lust rose to take over, making him moan wantonly around Hirutani's tongue. Hirutani broke the kiss a moment later, pulling back an inch and then moving his mouth next to Ryou's ear again. He licked the ear and made Ryou shiver, and then whispered to him. "Here's what's going to happen. I'm going to take a shower, and then your pretty little mouth is going to suck my cock. Okay?"

"Kay..." Ryou mumbled dazedly.

...

Ryou knelt next to his bed, a towel wrapped around his waist and his lips wrapped around Hirutani's erection. His skin was warm and freshly washed but quickly gathering sweat as he took Hirutani into his throat and then backed up slowly, pressing with his lips and tongue, and scraping just the barest hint of teeth as he went. Hirutani panted and fisted his hands in Ryou's hair painfully.

He slid back to the head and then opened his mouth, breathing hot air against it for a moment before sliding his tongue over the tip and then bringing his lips around it again. Hirutani groaned above him and Ryou pressed forward, taking the shaft back into his mouth, pressing his lips tightly against the firm flesh. Hirutani seemed to loose patience and pulled on Ryou's hair, dragging him forward faster and making Ryou gag as his soft-palate was assaulted. He started thrusting into Ryou's mouth and Ryou just gripped the other teen's thighs and tried not to gag and to catch shallow breaths between thrusts.

Hirutani came into his mouth without any warning but an eager moan; it wouldn't have made a difference if he had given a warning, because his hands fisted in Ryou's hair were controlling the movement of his head so completely. Semen leaked out the corners of Ryou's mouth and down over his chin, and when Hirutani let him go, he came back coughing raggedly.

He sat back against his heels, coughing hard to clear his airway and lifted a hand to wipe the sticky mess from his face. Hirutani caught his hand before he could, and Ryou looked up, startled enough to abate his coughing fit. "Leave it," Hirutani said, his face flushed and graced by a very satisfied-looking smirk. "It's a good look for you."

Ryou stared back at him, mesmerized by the smirk, and panted. A few moments later he remembered that his body was still burning, wanting, and his eyebrows pulled together as he gazed up at Hirutani, silently pleading. Hirutani's lips pulled into a wider grin, his teeth showing as he looked back down at Ryou. "... Touch yourself," he ordered quietly.

Ryou's eyes widened a little and his panting sped up. He hesitated, nervous, self-conscious, and Hirutani reached forward, grabbing the towel Ryou was wearing and ripping it away, knocking Ryou over in the process. "Touch yourself," he repeated, leering at Ryou.

Ryou righted himself, kneeling there on the floor in front of Hirutani, and hesitantly brought his hands to his own body. He touched his left hand gingerly against his chest and lowered his right hand down between his thighs, his breath faltering a little when his fingers slid around his own erection.

"Go on," Hirutani urged and Ryou closed his eyes, curling his fingers around himself and sliding his hand back and forth, falteringly, like he'd never masturbated before or something. "Spread your legs," Hirutani directed and Ryou did so, sliding his shins against the carpet and increasing the distance between his knees. He opened his eyes a little and took in the predatory look on Hirutani's face, but he had to close them again, it was just too embarrassing, what he was doing.

"Lean back," Hirutani said, and Ryou moved his left hand to the floor behind him, to brace himself as he leaned his torso back, spreading himself out on display like the models in a pornographic magazine. It was embarrassing, it felt wrong, but Ryou was getting so close. He pumped himself fast and hard and he moaned, almost forgetting the awkwardness. Hirutani's voice cut through the haze again as he ordered, "Say my name."

"Hirutani-san..." Ryou whimpered.

"Say 'sama.'"

"Hirutani-sama..." Ryou moaned.

"Again!"

"Hirutani-samaaa!" Ryou wailed, hitting his peak and tumbling over the edge into orgasm.

As it faded, he leaned forward, curling in on himself as he panted. After a few moments, he felt Hirutani's fingers under his chin, lifting his face up and he gazed at the other teen, panting lustily as Hirutani grinned down at him. "Tomorrow, I'll make you cry," he promised.

...

...

AN: So some cultural notes here because some of this is kind of confusing from a Western standpoint. Ryou freaks out when Hirutani asks about the shower. You might have heard that the Japanese never say anything directly, and well, that's true in some ways although simple things like "Do you want some tea?" are generally pretty straight-forward. But one of those things that is always talked about indirectly is sex, and the way you invite someone to have sex is by asking "Would you like to take a shower?" This is because bathing always proceeds sex in Japan.

Also, that last line sounds kind of creepy, when Hirutani says he's going to make Ryou cry, but that's another innuendo thing. Making the woman (or uke or neko) cry during sex is supposed to be a paramount achievement in the Japanese mindset. The idea is that the sex is so intensely good, they just can't handle it and they cry. So... he's not being as creepy as that might first come off... but... yeah... still plenty of motivations to be questioned...

Also, there's the unfortunate language he's using on the first page, where he seems to be disparaging Ryou's sexuality and such, and then that seems to be in conflict with his later actions and maybe has you thinking 'self-hating closet-case?' Thing is, in Japan it's considered more or less normal for teenagers to be bisexual. Traditionally, Japan's view to sexuality is that homo-eroticism isn't a problem, it's a lack of baby-making that's a problem, so as long as the male heir of a family is continuing his prestigious line, having a same-sex partner on the side isn't a horrible thing. For adolescents and teenagers in particular though, in traditional settings, it's normal and in some cases encouraged to crush on persons of the same sex (for both boys and girls). Western culture has had a lot of effect on Japanese culture in the last century, of course, and in this day and age there is more of the 'Oh no, gaaaaaaay!' stigma for males, but it would be entirely possible for Hirutani, in this case, to take no hit to his perceived masculinity if he just declares Ryou the 'girl.' Who's on top is the big factor in whether a homosexual male is perceived as feminized.

One thing to note, Hirutani is not an OC, he is a minor character from the original manga (chapters 11 & 12,) so minor, he didn't even merit a given-name in the Japanese. In English he was dubbed Diesel Kane. I kind of played on the Kane sound for Kanaye ( tells me that it means 'Zealous') then about halfway through writing this chapter I went 'Hey, it sounds like "Kanye." That's a great name for arrogant ass-holes.' Yo, I'ma let you finish, Ryou, but this guy is gonna be the worst shit-head (of all time!) that I set you up with. Yeah, I just memed my A/N, wut?


	5. Chapter 5

Yuugi kept glancing at Bakura, his lips curved into a little frown, all through the morning. They hadn't seen much of him that week. He'd started running home right after school again, which seemed to mean that there was a new boy-friend in the picture. And today... today he'd come to school with a purplish mark just under his left eye. It was faint, not a true 'shiner,' but it was definitely there. And it was terrifying Yuugi.

That kind of bruise didn't come from tripping or walking into a door. That was an intentional kind of bruise. He'd seen Jonouchi sporting or acquiring enough black-eyes to know what they looked like. Yuugi wasn't all that worried when Jounochi got a new black eye, because it was usually a result of him loosing his temper and rushing into a fight; it wasn't good, but it was more or less expected from him. Bakura didn't get into fights. He got picked on sometimes, but that just resulted in Jounochi getting into yet another fight in Bakura's defense. There was no good reason that Bakura should have a black eye.

The first passing-period, Yuugi had made small-talk with him, during the course of which he had asked "Are you okay?" several times. The second passing-period, he tried asking about the bruise, which Bakura completely denied the existence of and insisted that Yuugi was seeing things. At that point Anzu had nearly started yelling at him, before the math teacher came into the room* and called the class to order.

Finally lunch came, and the thirty-minute reprieve from classes left a more suitable length of time to interrogate their friend. "Bakura! Stop being evasive!" Anzu snapped as soon as the door had closed behind Mr. Yamada. "Who the hell gave you that bruise?"

Bakura jumped slightly in his seat and flustered at Anzu's directness, seeming to flounder and cast about for a satisfactory answer before replying. "It- it's not- You don't need to make a big deal. It was just a cooking accident!"

"Cooking accidents burn your fingers, they don't give you black eyes!" Anzu planted her feet in front of Bakura's desk, her hands on her hips, and glared down at him.

"N-no, it wasn't- I wasn't at the stove, it was the cabinet!" Bakura insisted. "I wasn't looking and- and I forgot I left it open!"

"That was _not_ a cabinet," Jounochi said darkly, grabbing Bakura's chin and pulling his face up towards the light for a better look. "What do you think, Honda? How many kilos of force would that take?"

Honda perched on Jounochi's vacated desk and rubbed his chin thoughtfully, considering the bruise. "More than a cabinet could do... Unless somebody smacked him _with_ a cabinet?"

"It was an _accident!_" Bakura half-shouted.

"Bakura-kun, please!" Yuugi pleaded, putting a hand over Bakura's shoulder and squeezing it. "We're your _friends!_ Please tell us what happened!"

"I already did!" Bakura snapped, pushing Yuugi's hand away and reaching for his bag. He pulled out his lunchbox and started to opened it up, ignoring them.

"You're _lying!_" Anzu slammed her hands down on the lid of his lunchbox, snapping it back shut, and glared, nose-to-nose with Bakura.

Bakura jerked back at her sudden movement and closed his eyes. Yuugi bit his lip, Anzu's forcefulness not bothering him nearly as much as Bakura's bizarre reaction to it. "What was _that?_" Anzu demanded as Bakura opened his eyes and peaked back at her again. "Why are you _flinching_ at me? Who do you think is going to _hit_ you?"

"That's not- you're just too loud! You hurt my ears!" Bakura protested, shaking his head.

"Bullshit," Jounochi spat. "What, do you think we're _stupid?_"

"Stop _yelling_ at him!" Yuugi burst out, balling his fists at his sides. "You're making it worse!"

Jounochi faltered, glancing at Yuugi with a worried, unsure expression. "But... What am I supposed to do! He keeps trying to feed me this crap about a cabinet!"

"Well don't _yell!_" Yuugi shook his head. "That's not going to help anything!"

"_Shut up!_" Bakura nearly screamed, shoving Yuugi away as he scrambled out of his seat. "Leave me _alone!_" he started towards the classroom door, apparently having given up on the lunch Anzu had confiscated from him.

Yuugi caught his wrist and gave him a pleading, miserable look when Bakura glanced back at him. "But you _hate_ being alone, Bakura-kun," he said quietly.

A jumbled series of emotions played across Bakura's face in the span of a few seconds, before he shook Yuugi off again and bolted out the door.

...

They tried to corner him after school, but apparently Bakura had anticipated that and he managed to sneak away without any of them catching him. "That moron," Jounochi growled. "What the hell did he get himself into?"

"... I have to work today," Anzu said in a quiet, bitter voice.

"That's okay," Yuugi said, giving her a smile that he wasn't really feeling. "You go to work. We'll take care of Bakura-kun. Don't worry."

Anzu looked down at him and tried to smile back, but she looked about as convinced as he was. "I- I'll call you on my break," she said, before she started walking in the direction of Burger World.

They watched her leave quietly and stood still for a while after she'd turned the corner out of sight before Honda broke the silence. "Do you have a plan, Yuugi?"

"... I... I guess we should go to Bakura's apartment and try to talk to him again..." Yuugi said quietly. "I mean... It was probably bad to attack him in school like that, with all our classmates listening... It was probably really embarrassing and... I guess I'd be mad if somebody started dragging out my personal life in public like that... We should apologize to him."

Jounochi snorted. "If he'd just _talk_ to us we wouldn't have to start yelling in front of the whole class," he grumbled.

"... It's not his fault he's like this," Yuugi mumbled.

Honda's hand landed softly on Yuugi's head. "It's not your fault either," he said quietly. "All this magic stuff and everything that's been happening lately, it's way over all our heads."

"Well I may not get that sort of thing," Jonouchi growled. "But I'm totally on the level with beating the shit out of whoever hit Bakura."

"Just try to do it without traumatizing Bakura any more, Jou," Honda said in a stern voice. "No going crazy. Let's follow Yuugi's lead on this one, okay?"

"Yeah, fine, whatever," Jounochi grumbled, crossing his arms and looking sulky.

"Okay, well," Yuugi took a steadying breath and squared himself, "let's go then."

...

Ryou could hear the television on when he pushed open the door to his apartment. "I'm home!" he called, closing the door behind him and slipping off his shoes.

"We're out of senbei**," Hirutani's voice called back to him.

"Ah? Really? I can pick up more tomorrow when I go to the grocery store," Ryou said, putting his bag next to the door and walking into the living room.

Hirutani turned his attention from the TV to give Ryou and irritated glare. "Did I say we were going to run out _tomorrow?_" he demanded.

Ryou took a tiny step backwards and his breath caught. "N-no, I'm sorry, that's really lazy of me," he mumbled. "I- I can get some at the convenience store right now."

Hirutani turned back to the TV, placated. "Make dinner first. I'm meeting my people, so I want to eat early," he instructed.

"Of course," Ryou nodded, smiling. "Do you know how late you'll be out tonight?"

"Would it be any of your goddamned business if I did?"

"I'm sorry," Ryou lowered his head a bit and moved into the kitchen. The TV continued to blare in the background as he pulled meat from the fridge and put it on the cutting board and then set up the rice-cooker and got it started. He'd finished cutting the meat and moved it aside into a bowl while he washed the cutting board to slice up vegetables, when the doorbell rang. He paused, his train of thought interrupted, staring down at the carrot he was washing for a moment, and it rang again.

"Someone's at the fucking _door_, stupid," Hirutani called from the couch.

"Y-yes! Sorry!" Ryou stammered, setting down his knife and wiping his hands against his pants. He walked around the counter and went to open the door, wondering vaguely if it was one of Hirutani's gangmates. Ryou had received a couple of calls on his cell phone asking for Hirutani and he was curious if he had given them his address as well.

When he opened the door, he felt as though the bottom dropped out of his stomach. Ryou's friends were standing on his porch, frowning at him. "W-what are you doing here?" he asked, his voice coming out as something akin to a whisper and he started to feel panic swelling in his chest.

"Who the fuck is it?" Hirutani's voice demanded from the living room.

A strange expression came over Jonouchi's face and he was suddenly shoving past Ryou, walking into the apartment unannounced and uninvited. "J-jonouchi-kun! What are you-!" Ryou started, panicking and chasing him. Hirutani had stood up and looked wary as they turned the corner. His eyes widened slightly when he saw Jonouchi and then narrowed again and a smirk spread across his lips.

"_You!_" Jonouchi hissed, his entire frame taut and trembling slightly. Ryou didn't think he'd ever seen his friend look quite this angry before.

"... Jonouchi Katsuya," Hirutani said with a hint of a laugh in his voice. "Long time no see."

A few unintelligible sounds came out of Jonouchi's mouth before he finally managed to snarl out, "I'm gonna fucking kill you, _bastard!_"

Ryou gasped and grabbed Jonouchi's arm, pulling him back as the other teen started to surge forward. "Jonouchi-kun! Stop it! What are you _doing?_"

Hirutani started laughing. "Oh this is too fucking _rich!_" he exclaimed. "I knew you went to the same school, but you mean to tell me this bitch is one of your precious little _friends,_ Jonouchi?" he asked, pointing to Ryou and wearing a manic grin. "Just when I thought things couldn't get better!"

"_You son of a bitch!_" Jonouchi screamed, and Ryou only managed to hold onto him because Honda had grabbed Jounochi's other arm. "_Nobody's gonna recognize your goddamned body!_"

"_Stop it! Stop it!_" Ryou wailed, clinging to Jonouchi's arm and feeling hysteria take hold of him. "Why are you _doing_ this?"

"Yuugi, what do we do?" Honda's voice demanded and Ryou turned his eyes to where Yuugi was standing, slightly behind them, his face pale and eyes wide. "_Yuugi!_" Honda called again, trying to snap him out of his trance.

Yuugi's entire countenance suddenly changed; he stood up straighter, he seemed taller, his face hardened and a strange sense of _power_ seemed to seep out of him like some sort of glow. He sprang forward, dashing across the room and slamming Hirutani back into the wall, one hand clamping around his wrist and the other on his throat. Ryou's mouth dropped open in shock at the display of strength and aggression that his diminutive friend _should not have had_.

"Have you forgotten what happens when you hurt my _friends_, Hirutani?" Yuugi demanded in a low, icy voice that made Ryou's blood run cold. Something about it, the sight, the sound of this strange, _different_ Yuugi was filling him by equal measure with terror and rage.

Jonouchi had stopped struggling and he and Honda were just staring at Yuugi too, seeming as frozen and rooted to the floor as Ryou felt. Hirutani made a strange, angry gurgling noise, Yuugi's hand on his neck must have been choking him quite strongly, and Ryou felt a fresh lance of fear tear through him that seemed to shatter something deep inside.

The next thing he knew, he was grabbing the back of Yuugi's shirt, throwing him at the ground and screaming. He landed on top of Yuugi, his knees hitting the floor hard, and punched him before the small teen could react but to look shocked. There was a commotion around him, but he barely registered it as he swung again.

This time Yuugi caught his punch and quickly secured his other hand as well. "_Bakura! Listen to me!_"

"_I won't let you take him away!_" Ryou screamed, struggling to get his hands free, but Yuugi was just so absurdly _strong_ for some reason.

"_You don't understand!_" Yuugi protested.

"MURDERER!" the accusation slipped past Ryou's lips without conscious decision. He couldn't have said why he chose it, but some part of him knew it was the right word.

Strange emotions flashed across Yuugi's face and then he shoved Ryou away and clamored to his feet. Ryou hit the floor and then sprang up again just as fast. "_Get out of my home!_" he shouted. "_You've no right to be here!_"

Yuugi stared at him for a moment and the room was silent, then he turned and walked towards the front door. "Y-Yuugi?" Jonouchi called.

"He's right," Yuugi said, his voice still strong and dark, but quiet now. "It's his home. And I don't have the right."

"We're not really gonna just leave, are we?" Honda asked, incredulity coloring his voice.

"I am," Yuugi answered, looking pointedly at them, and then turning down the hall. The door opened and shut.

Honda and Jonouchi looked back at him and Ryou's eyes narrowed. He spread out his arms, standing in front of Hirutani who was, for once, quiet. "You'll have to go through me first," he growled.

"... Bakura, can we please just talk to you?" Honda asked, his eyes dark and serious.

"No," Ryou said through gritted teeth. "Get out of my home."

"... Okay."

"W-what? _Honda!_" Jonouchi protested, resisting as Honda dragged him to the hall. "What are you _doing?_"

The door opened and closed again on the sounds of Jonouchi's objections.

Ryou's arms dropped limply to his sides and his knees gave out. He found himself sitting on the floor, his limbs aching and his entire body trembling. There was silence for several minutes and then a hand landed on his hair. "... Dinner," Hirutani reminded.

"Yes." Ryou nodded and returned to the kitchen.

...

The other Yuugi was standing at the curb, leaned against a bicycle rack, when Honda and Jounochi reached the bottom of the stairs. Jonouchi was livid. "What is _wrong_ with you guys! We can't just _leave_ Bakura with that bastard! He's gonna fucking wake up _dead_ tomorrow!"

"Calm down, Jonouchi," the Pharaoh said in an uncharacteristically subdued voice. "Hirutani isn't going to kill him. He wants to taunt us." He looked up at the apartment building, frowning softly. "Most likely Bakura will come to school with new, and obvious, bruises tomorrow," he predicted, "and with Hirutani's version of what happened last year."

"And you're just going to _let_ that happen?" Jonouchi shouted.

"Jou, we need to get them apart," Honda said quietly. "We can't talk to him when Hirutani's around. He's too on edge."

"So _what!_ You just want to wait until that shit does something _worse_ to him?"

"Like Honda said. We need to separate them and talk to Bakura alone," the Pharaoh's voice was calm as he turned and started walking up the street.

"You're leaving in less than a week!" Jonouchi protested. "What are you just going to trot off to Egypt and leave Bakura to get brutalized by that fucking psycho? We don't have time to let the honeymoon end or something!"

"I am aware of that, Jonouchi," the Pharaoh said quietly. "Now that we know what we're dealing with, we can plan to isolate Hirutani. We would have much higher odds of success if we made a plan and executed it tomorrow, rather than blundering ahead right now... Besides, Bakura is too... volatile, at this moment. He needs time to calm down."

"What, because he almost remembered that he _hates_ you?" Jonouchi growled.

The Pharaoh paused, looking back at him, and Jonouchi felt very odd and uncomfortable under that gaze. "... Because he's transferring emotion. He is unwittingly making Hirutani a surrogate for the feelings of possessiveness he had for the Millennium Ring."

"... So you think he's starting to remember it?" Jonouchi said quietly.

"No. The spirit of the Millennium Ring was just a stand-in as well," the Pharaoh said, shaking his head. "He used it to cope with the loss of his family. Now he's again searching for a new subject to anchor his emotional distress over that tragedy."

...

Kanaye felt shaken. Not just by the reappearance of that scary-ass psycho split-personality kid, but by the way mild little Bakura Ryou had attacked him. Apparently he did have fight in him after all; Kanaye would have to maintain the pecking order carefully and make sure Ryou didn't get any ideas.

He carefully refocused the thrill of adrenalin that had been left in the wake of psycho-kid into anger as he quietly composed himself in front of the television, listening to Ryou chop vegetables. By the time Ryou carried dinner over to the table, Kanaye had successfully banished anxiety from his mind and turned all his feelings about the encounter into suspicion and blame against the other teen.

Kanaye rose up off of the couch and walked over to the table as Ryou straightened up and smiled sweetly at him, that pathetic, hopeful look that begged for a scrap of praise. Rather than settling himself at the table, however, Kanaye stepped right up to Ryou and grabbed a handful of his hair. Ryou yelped as he was yanked sideways and thrown to the ground.

"Hi-Hiru—" he started to whimper.

"What the _fuck_ were you trying to do, bringing those guys in here?" Kanaye demanded. "You set this up, _didn't_ you! Trying to get your buddies to take me out! I oughta fucking _kill_ you!"***

"N-no!" Ryou protested, curling his arms into himself and casting a pleading look up at Hirutani. "I didn't know they were coming! I didn't even let them in! Jonouchi pushed me!"

"Shut the _fuck_ up!" Kanaye snapped, swinging back his foot to give Ryou a good, solid kick in the ribs.

An image, or a thought, just a faint suggestion, flashed through his mind suddenly. Kanaye got the impression of something terrifying, huge and dark and scaled, with glowing, blue eyes and a massive, open mouth rushing towards him. And just as suddenly, a jolt of pain shot through the leg he was balanced on, biting into him and making him loose his footing.

He slammed down next to Ryou, cussing and grabbing at his leg. "_Fuck!_ What the _fuck?_" he spat, grimacing.

"Are you okay?" Ryou exclaimed, crouching on his hands and knees in front of Kanaye, looking worried. "What happened?"

"Shut the _fuck_ up!" Hirutani said again, through gritted teeth.

_There will be no kicking._

Hirutani's head snapped up, glaring at Ryou. "What the _fuck _did you say?" he demanded.

"I-" Ryou hesitated, biting his lip. "I asked if you were okay? Is it a charley horse? Maybe you need more calcium! I- I'll make soup!"

"_Shut up!_ It's _nothing!_" Kanaye snapped, climbing back to his feet, though his leg still protested. He plopped down again next to the table and started shoveling the dinner Ryou had made into his mouth, eating it quickly so he could get out of here for a while.

Something about this whole situation was starting to creep him out.

...

Bakura did not have any new injuries when he came to school the next day. Yuugi waited for him to sit down and then shuffled up to Bakura's desk, hands behind his back and head lowered sheepishly. "Bakura-kun," Yuugi said quietly. "I- I'm sorry about what happened... I... I was out of line. I just got scared when I saw _that guy_ in your apartment... I've met him before..."

"Please take your seats!" the homeroom teacher called, walking into the classroom.

Yuugi reluctantly walked over and slid down into his seat, biting his lip. He glanced back over at Bakura and then froze, realizing that the desk next to Bakura's was empty. Jonouchi's desk. He whipped his head around and scanned the classroom, searching for his friend but only finding Honda and Anzu, looking equally worried.

...

The school would call his dad when he didn't show up. But his dad would be too drunk to remember why he was angry by the time Katsuya got home. He'd probably be too drunk to notice a few new bruises too. Though, Katsuya fully intended to look a lot better than Hirutani at the end of the day.

A teenager carrying a baseball bat around the streets looks suspicious. He might as well just wear a bright red T-shirt with 'THUG' written across the front. But a teenager carrying a bat _and glove_ looks positively wholesome. That is, of course, assuming Katsuya didn't run into anybody who knew him well enough to know that he hadn't played baseball since he was ten. The fact that he was out in the streets during school hours, however, negated the wholesome effects of the baseball glove and dropped him back into the 'suspicious' category.

He stayed off the main streets though, keeping to the alleys and side streets of the Rintama High neighborhood and quietly looking around. For now he was scouting. He didn't know (and rather doubted) if Hirutani had gone to school, but even if he hadn't, he'd be in the area sooner or later. This was his gang's 'turf' so he was sure to show up sometime.

...

"He's not picking up," Honda growled, holding his cell phone to his ear. "That stupid jerk..."

"He went after Hirutani, didn't he..." Yuugi whispered, his stomach in knots at the thought of what happened the last time Jonouchi had tried to take on Hirutani's gang alone.

"That- that moron!" Anzu shouted, attracting the attention of the rest of the class, who looked at the trio curiously for a moment. Anzu dropped her voice to an angry murmur. "This is just so- so _like_ him!"

"What do we do?" Yuugi asked. "Should we try to sneak out? I- I could pretend to be sick, and Grandpa would probably tell the school it was alright to send me home..."

"No way my mom would give me a pass," Honda grimaced. "Even when I _am_ sick she thinks I'm faking."

"Take your seats!" Mister Yamada called as he breezed into the classroom and pulled down the projector screen.

...

At lunch, Bakura promptly disappeared before anyone could intercept him. "Damn it!" Yuugi cursed. "Damn it! This is the _worst_ timing!"

"At least we know where _he_ is right now," Anzu said, shaking her head. "What if Jonouchi's got his head bashed open and he's stuffed in a dumpster or something!"

"_Anzu!_ What the _hell_ is wrong with you!" Honda gave her a horrified look.

"He _could_ be," Anzu mumbled and bit her lip.

"These guys like to congregate in the afternoon and evening, Anzu," Honda assured her. "Jou probably hasn't even found Hirutani yet, he's just trying to set up a plan so that he can get Hirutani on his own and fight him without the rest of the gang. He's not stupid enough to take them all on alone."

"You are giving him _way_ too much credit, Honda," Anzu gave him a withering look. "Jonouchi isn't that smart."

"Anzu, this isn't funny!" Yuugi protested. "... Finding him should be our first priority though. As soon as they open the gate, we should try to find him and make sure he hasn't gotten himself into trouble."

"Agreed," Honda said with a nod. "Assuming Jou is keeping Hirutani busy, Bakura should be safe on his own for an hour or two."

...

Just after 3:30, Katsuya spotted Hirutani and his loud-mouthed henchman Inoue. Inoue was all bark and no bite. He probably joined the gang just so he could say whatever the hell he wanted about anyone without fear of reprisal. Katsuya wondered how that was working out for him. Last time he'd seen Inoue, the dickless douche-bag was sprawled out unconscious and bleeding from just one punch.

Now he and Hirutani were leaning against the wall of an alley, attending to their nicotine addictions. Katsuya set his jaw and strode into the alley, baseball-bat clenched firmly in his right hand.

"Jonouchi!" Inoue exclaimed, spotting him. He leapt away from the wall and set his feet in a ready stance, taking in the bat and whatever expression Katsuya must have had on his face. "What the fuck do you want?" he demanded, cigarette clenched between his teeth.

Hirutani cast him a bored glare. He pushed himself away from the wall and flicked his cigarette away. "He just wants to cry about me punking one of his little bitch friends," he said dismissively.

"You don't know what you're messing with, getting involved with Bakura. I'm probably going to do you a _big_ favor right now," Katsuya said, coming to a stop a few meters away from the two thugs.

Hirutani laughed. "What I'm messing with? That little bitch was a fucking find! Keeps the house clean, dinner on the table and he knows his fucking place! Perfect goddamned wife!"

Katsuya growled. "He's not your wife and I'm gonna beat the shit out of you until you can't remember where he lives!"

"You stupid, Jonouchi, or can ya just not count?" Inoue laughed. "It's two against one dick-face!"

"Please, the bat's worth three of _you_, puss-bucket!" Katsuya sneered. "I could knock you over with a cooked noodle!"

"You're pretty confident, ain't ya," Hirutani chuckled as Inoue seethed. "You think you're the only one who came prepared for a fight today? I knew you and your stupid bleeding-heart would be coming around here." He pulled out a kendo-stick and rested it against his shoulder.

Katsuya narrowed his eyes. "You shoulda invested in _aluminum_, ass-hole!" he declared.

...

Yuugi was running ahead of Honda and Anzu, the Millennium Puzzle clutched between his hands. Here and there he'd stop at the corner of an intersection and close his eyes, concentrating on Jonouchi and willing the Millennium Item around his neck to give him a direction. Then he would take off again just as his friends caught up to him. If he were to be honest, he'd have to admit that he had no idea what he was doing, but if Bakura could dowse with the Millennium Ring, why couldn't he use the Millennium Puzzle the same way?

His other self was helping, focusing his energy on Jonouchi and the Puzzle while Yuugi kept his eyes open so he didn't run into anything. They were getting close. The Puzzle had already led them into the Rintama neighborhood and Yuugi could feel something like a warm breeze ahead of him, guiding his steps. And then he suddenly became aware of sound, just before he turned the corner into an alley.

"Jonouchi-kun!" Yuugi shouted, spotting his friend as he slammed a baseball bat across Hirutani's gut. "Oh my god! Stop! You'll _kill_ him!"

"He fucking _deserves_ it!" Jonouchi snarled, shoving the end of the bat into Hirutani's face as the other teen tried to lunge for a kendo-stick on the ground. "I am so sick of this bastard's _shit!_"

"Jou!" Honda yelled, blowing right past Yuugi and tackling his friend. "Knock it off, stupid! Do you want to get arrested?"

"Who fuckin' ask't you?" Hirutani slurred, getting back to his feet and lurching towards Honda, his fist in the air. "Ta growd-ups are talkin', Hon'a, go play wid your bitch frien's!"

Jonouchi pulled the bat back to take another swing, and this time it looked like he was aiming for Hirutani's head. Honda grabbed the bat with both hands and wrenched it away. "I said_ knock it off!_" he shouted.

Disarmed, Jonouchi instead decided to kick Hirutani, managing to catch him in the center of the chest and send him slamming back into the ground.

Yuugi felt himself being pushed back and then suddenly his body was moving, darting in front of Jonouchi and delivering a solid shove that sent him stumbling backwards. "That's _enough_, Jonouchi!" the Pharaoh declared. ''You've won this fight already."

"Kk- l'k' hell he h's..." Hirutani growled, trying to push himself up off the ground.

"You've lost, Hirutani, just admit it," the Pharaoh snapped, rounding on him. "Five more minutes and Jonouchi would have most likely ended your life."

"F-fu'k you," Hirutani snarled and spat out a mouthful of blood.

"You go anywhere near Bakura and I'll _finish_ the job!" Jonouchi promised through gritted teeth.

Hirutani laughed. "You thin' I'd led a pun' li'e you mess this ub fo me?" he sneered. He hacked and spat again, clearing his throat and managing to speak more clearly. "Tha' little bitch is the jackpot. Slut'll do anything if I say I'm takin' off."

Jonouchi growled and started to come forward, but Yuugi's hands came up again and pushed him back sharply. Then the Pharaoh rounded on Hirutani, glaring a moment before lunging forward and slapping his palm against his forehead. Hirutani's eyes went wide and he started to gasp, and then he slumped, staring blankly.

"... What'd you do to him?" Honda asked quietly.

"It's not permanent," the Pharaoh said dismissively. "But it should leave an impression."

"Are you guys okay?" Anzu's voice yelled down the Alley.

"Yeah, it's over," Jonouchi shouted back, wiping at his mouth with the back of his hand and examining the faint smear of blood it left behind.

"Jonouchi you're an _idiot!_" Anzu shrieked.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever!"

"You're really stupid!" she insisted.

"Fine! Sure! Do you want to go find Bakura now or what?" Jonouchi snapped.

"No," Yuugi said quietly, sliding back into his body like a coat. "You guys, could you let me talk to him? This is something... He's going to feel like we're ganging up on him if we all go... Can you please let me talk to him today?"

Anzu cast him a worried look as they approached the mouth of the alley. Honda dropped a hand onto his shoulder. "You don't have to do this alone, Yuugi," he said quietly.

"No, I need to," Yuugi said shaking his head. "I owe him that. Please, just give me today. There's things... There's stuff that you don't really get- you _can't_ get because it's so strange and it hasn't happened to you and- and I can't explain what it feels like... But I think in some ways I know Bakura-kun best..." he glanced down at the Millennium Puzzle, hanging from his neck and clutched between his hands, "when it comes to this..."

Honda and Jonouchi were quiet. Anzu frowned at the ground for a few moments and then looked back up at him. "Okay, Yuugi."

…

* By the way, in Japanese schools, the teachers move between classrooms while the students stay in the same room all day. I've been writing this fic with that as granted, and it occured to me that it might be slightly confusing to readers who aren't familiar with this difference. So really, my use of the phrase 'passing-period' isn't quite correct in Japanese terms, because the students don't move about, but I felt like if I called it something else it would just get confusing and over-complicate the issue.

** Senbei- Japanese crackers/biscuits, like a hard rice-cake, commonly glazed with sweet soy-sauce.

*** Japanese teenagers seem to use the threat 'I'll kill you' really liberally. It's kind of disturbing.

A/N:

Oh my God, this chapter was hard to write. Remember back at the end of chapter three when I said I'd gotten through the awkward middle-bits and now I knew what I was doing and it would be easier to finish? I didn't really think Point A to Point B through on this part of the story, so I knew that I had to go get Hirutani introduced to the rest of the crew, then beat up, but I didn't actually have a plan in my head for how that was all going to go down, apparently. So now that Point B has been accomplished here, that leads me back into srs business plot scenes that I've had planned out from close to the start of this fic, and also brings us up to the climax.


	6. Chapter 6

"I'm home!" Yuugi announced as he walked through the door. "I'm going to go over to Bakura-kun's place though. I'm just dropping my stuff off!"

"Welcome home," Grandpa's voice called back to him from the door that connected the house to the shop.

Yuugi climbed the stairs to his room and dropped his book-bag on the bed.

_What are you going to tell him?_ the Pharaoh asked, curiously. _Hirutani probably already told __**his**__ version of what happened to Jonouchi._

"Yeah, probably," Yuugi agreed, taking off his coat and tossing it on top of the bag.

_So are you just going to tell him what really happened and hope he believes you?_ The Pharaoh sounded frustrated, he was awkward when it came to dealing with people's emotions and it irritated him to have something he wasn't naturally skilled at.

"Yep," Yuugi answered, sliding his thumbs under the chain around his neck and pulling it off over his head.

A confused feeling radiated from the Puzzle for a moment before Yuugi let it drop from his hands down on top of his coat. _You're changing clothes?_ the Pharaoh asked.

"Nope," Yuugi said and turned away from the bed.

_What are you doing?_ the Pharaoh demanded from where the Millennium Puzzle lay atop the heap. _Where are you going?_

"Already told you," Yuugi said quietly, not looking back at it, but pausing at the door, his finger hovering above the light-switch. "I'm going to talk to Bakura-kun."

_You're leaving me behind?_ the Pharaoh demanded, sounding panicked. _Why?_

"Because I don't need you there." He flipped off the light switch and pulled the door closed.

_Yuugi! You can't tell him! You're not thinking this through!_

"... I thought it through," Yuugi said quietly to himself as he descended the stairs and strode back through the house to the front door. "I'll be back later!" he shouted, stepping into his shoes.

"Take care!" Grandpa shouted back from the store.

Yuugi stepped out the door, pulling it shut behind him and then he leaned against it, taking a breath. His heart was pounding. He was scared. His other self was going to be mad at him. The Pharaoh was so sure he knew what was best, and he was trying so hard to restore everything to Maat, but this wasn't a situation for brute strength anymore. The Pharaoh just didn't understand that the world couldn't be made right by sacrificing a person to the 'greater good.'

If they let that be the way of the world, they couldn't call themselves human beings.

Yuugi pushed himself away from the door and started walking. As he went, he pulled the phone out of his pocket and opened the contact list. He scrolled to Malik's name and hit send, then held the phone to his ear and held his breath.

The line picked up after two rings. "Yuugi," Malik's voice said calmly at the other end.

"How do I make him remember? The other me won't interrupt you this time," Yuugi said quickly.

There was a pause. "... What do you mean?"

"You said Bakura-kun did some kind of spell to tie himself with the other Bakura. You said if I could activate it or something, he might remember," Yuugi reminded him. "How do I do that?"

There was another quiet pause. "It's written on his chest, right above his heart. A tattoo of the Thief's name. Make him say it out loud while he's looking at it. That might work," Malik's voice instructed and Yuugi nodded to the empty air around him. "If it doesn't, try making him write it down, and there's a few more things we can try if that doesn't do it. I don't know how strong a spell the Pharaoh put on him."

"Is it in hieroglyph? I don't think I can read it without the other me..." Yuugi said hesitantly.

"It's Bakhura," Malik said.

Yuugi blinked. "Bakura?" he asked, baffled.

"Close, that's probably what pulled them together. But it's a totally different meaning and slightly different pronunciation," Malik explained. "The middle sound doesn't exist in Japanese, it's not a Ku. It's like a Ha and a Ku put together. Blow out like Ha when you're making the Ku sound."

Yuugi frowned apprehensively, waiting at a red-light. "Kehuu," he tried.

"Don't separate the sounds, they're the same sound. _Khu_," Malik instructed.

"Kkhuu," Yuugi said, crossing the street and continuing up the block.

"No, it's farther back in your throat, with the back of your tongue, and don't block the air before you start it, you're blowing air through the whole sound. _Khu_," Malik said.

"Khuu," Yuugi tried again.

"That's it! That's the sound," Malik exclaimed. "_Bakhura_," he prompted.

"Bakhura," Yuugi repeated.

"You've got it. You need to make Ryou say it while he's looking at the tattoo."

Yuugi smiled a little bit, feeling a swell of hope and relief. "Okay. I can do it," he said, nodding to himself.

...

Ryou sat in the corner of the couch with his knees curled up against him and a blanket pulled around his shoulders. He stared at the TV, watching afternoon cartoons fade into evening comedies and wondering how late Hirutani would be out tonight. He'd prepared dinner to the point that it could be made ready inside of five minutes, whenever Hirutani came home. Now he was just waiting. Waiting until he wasn't alone.

There was a knock at the door and Ryou's heart leapt. He scrambled off the couch, the blanket dropping limply to the floor behind him, and ran to the door. 'Hirut-' he started but the name froze on his lips as he found himself looking down at Yuugi. "... Yuugi... What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you," Yuugi said softly, then he looked down and shook his head slightly. "... I need to apologize to you."

Ryou stared at him for a minute, pursing his lips and shifting on his feet. "It... it's not a good time..." he mumbled; he didn't know when Hirutani would be home, and Yuugi shouldn't be here when he did.

"It's never going to be a good time though, is it?" Yuugi asked, looking back up at him with wide, worried eyes. "You never know where Hirutani is or when he's going to come back or when he's going to hit you, do you."

Ryou bit his lip and tried to feel indignant instead of scolded. "You need to leave," he said quietly.

"He's not coming," Yuugi said quietly. "... That's where Jonouchi-kun was today... He went out and beat Hirutani up."

Ryou froze, terrified at the thought of what might have happened.

"Please. Please, Bakura-kun," Yuugi pleaded quietly, reaching out and taking Ryou's hand in both of his. "It's because he's really scared for you, we're all really scared. Can I please tell you why? Please?"

Ryou looked helplessly back at him, not sure what to do. "But Hirutani!" he protested, stepping forward slightly and looking outside, as though Hirutani would be right there. "He-he's hurt? I have to—"

"He's sulking," Yuugi assured him, putting one hand against Ryou's shoulder and pushing him gently back into the apartment. "He's been in worse fights. He's a Yankee*, remember?"

"B-but-" Ryou whimpered.

"He'll be okay," Yuugi said, taking him by the arm and stepping through the door to guide him back inside. "Don't worry about him right now, Bakura-kun. Please, I- I need to talk to you. I need to explain."

Ryou looked back at him, biting his lip and feeling overwhelmed. He said nothing as Yuugi closed the door and slipped off his shoes. He then caught Ryou's hand, like he was leading a small child, and tugged him into the living room. He guided Ryou to the couch, sat down with him and turned off the TV.

"Did Hirutani tell you about the last time we met him?" Yuugi asked quietly.

Ryou shook his head. After the disturbance at the apartment yesterday, Hirutani had disappeared and not returned until nearly 3-o-clock in the morning.

"Okay," Yuugi nodded and pursed his lips for a moment. "He and Jonouchi-kun and Honda-kun were in a gang together in middle school," he explained. "Last year, a couple months before you transferred to our school, Hirutani started a new gang, and it was mostly Rintama guys, but he wanted Jonouchi to be in it too even though he was going to our school."

Ryou reached down to the floor and retrieved the blanket he'd dropped earlier. He pulled it back around himself and tucked his legs under him as Yuugi kept talking. "But Jonouchi-kun didn't want to be in a gang anymore and he got in a fight with the whole gang." Yuugi bit his lip, pulling his own legs up onto the couch-cushions and crossing them. "And-and I guess it's normal- Jonouchi-kun says it is- for a gang to beat up somebody if they try to leave or something, and- and they beat up Jonouchi-kun..."

Ryou bit his lip and pulled the blanket tighter around himself. Yuugi's story was sounding all too plausible, and not very surprising. Jonouchi was scrappy; he'd learned to fight somewhere and he had anger issues, and Hirutani... this didn't sound out of character for him...

"B-but Jonouchi-kun- he was being tough and stuff, you know how he is, and- and- and Hirutani got taser-guns somewhere and- and-" Yuugi's eyes clouded with emotion and then squeezed shut. "They almost _killed_ him!" he blurted out.

Ryou dipped his face, looking down at the edge of the blanket, clutched in his hand. It wasn't hard to believe. Not at all. Maybe it should have been, but... but it sounded like exactly the kind of thing Hirutani was capable of when he was angry.

"Bakura-kun, we were really scared when we found out he was trying to take advantage of you," Yuugi mumbled quietly. "He's a really scary guy and he could really hurt you a lot."

"H-he didn't though," Ryou stammered, shaking his head, feeling tears pricking at his eyes. "He liked me. He _stayed_ with me."

"Bakura-kun, he gave you that bruise!" Yuugi protested, leaning toward him and catching Ryou's shoulders.

"It-it was an ac-cident!" Ryou protested, shaking his head and closing his eyes.

"... I'm sorry, Bakura-kun. This is all my fault," Yuugi whispered. "This isn't who you are... I shouldn't have let this happen. I should have told you a long time ago..."

Ryou opened his eyes a little looking at Yuugi and wondering what that meant. Told him? About Hirutani? Yuugi hadn't even known that he had any involvement with him until yesterday though.

"I- I was scared you'd hate me," Yuugi whispered. "Or something would happen and I'd loose you... I was scared of what would happen... I thought maybe you could be normal if I didn't say anything..."

Ryou blinked and stared at him. Where the hell was this going? It sounded like something straight out of a shojo-manga. Yuugi was... confessing to him? Ryou's mouth dropped open a little in disbelief. He'd never gotten that vibe from Yuugi.

"It's just- it's- you have to understand-" Yuugi mumbled, he was shaking a little now and looking as distressed as Ryou had ever seen him, and he was... adorable.

Ryou reached up and caught Yuugi's hand in his. Yuugi looked up at him, looking startled and worried. "... You've always been so nice, Yuugi," he said softly, looking down at their linked hands. "I haven't known many people as nice as you."

"I- I wanted to be your friend..." Yuugi mumbled. "B-but friends are honest with each other, and I've been lying to you..."

"... It's okay," Ryou said quietly, feeling very calm now.

"No, it's- I have to show you something," Yuugi said suddenly, his hand tightening on Ryou's as he climbed off the couch.

Ryou blinked. "Yuugi?" he asked, baffled.

"I have to show you. Malik said maybe it would work," Yuugi insisted, pulling on his hand.

"Malik?" Bemused, Ryou let Yuugi pull him off the couch. The blanket dropped on the floor again and Yuugi lead him over to the bathroom. "Yuugi, what is it?" Ryou asked, totally puzzled by the direction this was going.

"Um, let's see. Take off your shirt," Yuugi said, looking totally serious.

Ryou stared at him and felt heat seeping into his face. "Y-Yuugi, this is- this is really- What?" he stammered.

"It's important, Bakura-kun! You have to see it!" Yuugi insisted.

Ryou wondered what comics Yuugi had been reading. "I- I really don't think-" Ryou started.

"Bakura-kun, please! Just for a minute!" Yuugi whined, looking desperate.

At a loss for what else to do, Ryou decided to comply and hesitantly pulled his T-shirt over his head, his face burning. He clutched the shirt awkwardly in one hand and looked back at Yuugi, who was staring at his chest. His face felt positively nuclear. "Y-Yuugi, w-what the hell?" he demanded.

"There! Right there! The tattoo!" Yuugi said, pointing to the left of Ryou's sternum.

"Oh what the hell!" Ryou exclaimed, irritation suddenly overcoming his embarrassment. Why did everybody keep talking about some _phantom_ tattoo? Bakura Ryou did _not_ have a tattoo! He would never get some gangster symbol stamped into his skin! It was just stupid! He didn't even have a birthmark there, so what was everybody _talking_ about? "I don't _have_ a tattoo!"

"You do!" Yuugi protested, looking up at his face again. "It's right there!" he pointed.

"There's _nothing_ there, Yuugi! Who _started_ this stupid joke?" Ryou demanded, starting to feel downright angry.

Yuugi grabbed his shoulder and pulled Ryou around to face the mirror. "Look right here," he pointed to the place on Ryou's chest, "and say 'Bakhura,'" he instructed.

Ryou gave Yuugi a skeptical, irritated look through the mirror. "My _name?_" he asked, his lip starting to tug up into a sneer.

"No! Almost!" Yuugi said frantically. "The middle letter is different! It's _khu!_ It's not Japanese, it has a weird sound, _khu!_"

"Khu," Ryou snorted, the strange nonsense-sound coming easily to him for some reason. "What are you talking about, Yuugi?"

"Say it all together! Say 'Bakhura' and look right here!" Yuugi insisted, poking Ryou's chest and pushing him back towards the mirror again.

Ryou growled. He was really getting sick of this stupid game. He decided to humor Yuugi, hoping maybe the smaller teen would stop acting like an idiot if he did. "Bakhura," he said, looking into the mirror, at the blank space on his chest. Which suddenly became not so blank, crisp, black lines bleeding into the image on the mirror out of nowhere...

And then the universe exploded.

...

Yuugi jumped back a foot when Bakura screamed blood-curdlingly. He stared at his friend as Bakura's face became wild, hysterical, and he screamed again, sounding like someone was cutting off his leg. "Bakura-kun!" Yuugi wailed, catching his arm, trying to calm him down. "Bakura-kun!"

Bakura's arm lashed out and shook Yuugi off so sharply he fell back against the wall and sat down. Bakura gave up screaming, and loud, heavy sobs started pouring out of him as he clutched the sink for support. Yuugi gingerly climbed to his feet. "Bakura-kun... I'm so sorry..." he whispered.

Bakura pitched forward and vomited. Then he let go of the sink and crumpled to the floor. "Bakura-kun!" Yuugi twisted the faucet and grabbed a wash cloth, he wet it down and left the sink running to wash away the vomit as he knelt down next to Bakura, trying to push back all the hair and find his face. "Bakura-kun, are-" he started.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Bakura screamed, slapping him away.

"Bakura-kun, I-" Yuugi tried helplessly.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Bakura shoved him and stumbled to his feet. He took off out of the room, running.

"Bakura-kun!" Yuugi cried out and rolled to his feet to chase after him.

Bakura didn't stop long enough to get a jacket, he barely stopped for his shoes, before he was out the front door.

"BAKURA-KUN!" Yuugi yelled after him, trying to catch up.

...

Sek had a map drawn in the sand on the floor. He was grilling Bakhura on the layout as Mot leaned against the wall and watched, silent for once. "_The Wadi?_" Sek asked.

Bakhura pointed. "Here."

"_Right. Kul'Elna?_"

"Here."

"_Amarna?_"

"Here."

"_Good. Maru'Aten?_"

Bakhura started to point but was distracted by Mot's sudden, sharp intake of breath. He looked up at the demon, who had turned his head and was staring off into space, looking as though he were trying to find something. "H-here..." Bakhura mumbled, pointing, but still looking at Mot curiously.

"_Well that's __**my**__ cue I guess!_" Mot announced. "_It looks like I've got some business to attend to!_" he pushed away from the wall and leapt up to the platform at the top of the stairs. "_Toodles!_" he said with a wave, as he stepped out into the dark nothingness beyond.

"... What happened?" Bakhura asked quietly, frowning.

"_It doesn't matter_," Sek said shortly. "_Pay attention. Where is Till?_"

"Here," Bakhura pointed.

...

Ryou kept running, even after he'd lost Yuugi. The light shifted from an October sunset to early twilight as he charged down empty streets, not knowing what he was running to or from. Salt from dried tears itched on his cheeks and his feet ached. He noticed vaguely that he was nearing the busier side of town, where people would still be out walking. He didn't want to deal with people. He didn't want to see them. He didn't want them to see him.

He turned a sharp corner into an alley, trying to jump over the car-blocker and tripping on it instead. He slammed down to the ground and lay there for a moment, cringing and shaking.

_Where are you going?_ a not-voice asked.

Ryou rolled over and looked around frantically, trying to find the source. He couldn't find any irregularities in the twilight shadows around him, which disturbed him far more than finding an obvious source for the words would have. He climbed to his feet and took off again.

He wasn't unused to not-voices, he remembered that now, half of his conversations used to be with not-voices, but this one was not familiar. It wasn't the Thief and it wasn't the Snake. It was horribly inhuman like the Snake, something so dark and twisted it couldn't belong to this world, but it was different. He shot out of the alley and hooked a sharp left. A minute later he was in the suburbs again, running a tree-lined sidewalk down a quiet block.

_What are you running from? You know there's nowhere you can go,_ the not-voice mocked.

_Shut up,_ Ryou thought at it and turned another corner. On this block, nestled in amongst the single-family homes, he spotted a variation. A tall steeple and a cross stood out against the darkening sky. A church! Evil spirits couldn't go into churches, could they? Ryou decided it was worth a try and swerved off of the sidewalk, charging straight for the doors of the chapel.

The doors swung open easily under his touch, not locked like any other building would be after dark, and Ryou rushed inside. He slowed down, but didn't stop, walking down the isle and looking around suspiciously, listening for the not-voice. He froze when a light caught his peripheral vision and turned to watch the candles near the alter lighting themselves. They were real candles, not the battery-powered kind, and they had no reason to be bursting into spontaneous flame.

Ryou bit his lip and took a step back, towards the doors. "N-no," he whispered, and then shouted at the shadows around him, "D-don't touch me!"

_There's no point in running,_ the not-voice said in an amused tone. _We're not done with you yet._

"Leave me alone!" Ryou took another step backwards, looking around frantically.

_You're never alone, Ryou_.

Everything in the chapel suddenly seemed to resonate with some intense power, the organ pipes vibrated with it and produced a horrible whine. Ryou clamped his hands over his ears, feeling like his head was going to pop. He felt like he was being grabbed by dozens of hands, or wrapped and bound by living chains. The screeching of the organ grew steadily louder until finally, blissful, silent darkness consumed Ryou.

...

Japan was truly the land of convenience. The people here had damn near perfected convenience. Why, in five more years, they'd probably have coffee and beer piped directly into homes like tap-water! Not that any of them would be alive in five years. As it was, a hot and cold vending machine on every street-corner wasn't too shabby, and Mot happily purchased a can of beer from one. He grinned and almost giggled as the can clunked down into the hatch near his knees.

He continued walking, cracking open the can and taking a swig. Japanese beer was intriguingly sweet and mild, he noted. Holding the can in one hand, he stretched out the other in front of him and admired his long, slender fingers. Human aesthetics were a bit strange when one first considered them, but Mot had come to appreciate them over the millennia.

Bakura Ryou was girlishly pretty, although it seemed to Mot that most of the Japanese had much rounder features than Egyptians, giving a sweet, supple impression. Mot hummed and ran a finger down his soft cheek. He wondered if he could find a playmate and have some fun while he had the use of this intriguing body. He couldn't let it get damaged, of course, but getting it laid shouldn't hurt.

Another collection of vending machines lined his path and he peeked at the wares they were selling as he swaggered along. He paused in front of the second one and hummed happily. Ice cream! He dug his hands into his pockets and pulled out a few coins, picking through and finding two 100 coins to feed to the machine. A moment later he had a chocolate creamsicle to enjoy with his beer.

The creamsicle didn't last long; Mot was finishing the last few lumps of vanilla ice cream and licking the stick clean as he found the stairs to Bakura Ryou's apartment. He tossed the stick aside carelessly and took another sip of his beer, then laughed at how bitter it tasted after the ice cream.

He shifted the beer into his left hand and searched for his keys as he climbed the steps. He pulled them out and twirled them around his finger by the key-ring and took another sip, coming to the top of the stairs. He paused when he got there and tilted his head curiously. Someone was crouched down next to Bakura Ryou's door. Mot tilted his head a little more as he walked up the balcony, trying to see the figure's face and whether he could match it to anybody in Bakura Ryou's memories.

The figure looked up sharply at Mot when it noticed his presence and recognition flipped on a light switch in his mind. Hirutani Kanaye. Mot grinned widely and gave a gleeful little hop. "_Well_ _**shit**__! Happy birthday to __**me**__!_" he giggled.

"What the _fuck_ are you on about?" Hirutani snarled, glaring at him. The boy had a split-lip and some very noticeable bruising on his face. The Pharaoh's work, perhaps? "Open the goddamned _door_, Ryou," he commanded, delighting Mot with his false bravado.

Mot laughed and leaned down, catching the front of the boy's coat with one hand as he held his beer at a safe distance with the other, and dragging the startled-looking teenager easily to his feet. "_Oh, Ryou's not home right now, honey, but you can play with __**me**__!_" Mot said, grinning so wide it was painful. "_You look like __**you**__ need a hug!_"

...

...

* Yankee is used to refer to street-gang teenagers.

A/N:

I've pretty much brought this fic full-circle now, back into the canon time-line here. I guess I'll write a little short chapter/teaser kind of thing for what's going on in school the next day here, because I can't exactly leave Yuugi wandering around his canon self like this didn't happen... but I'm going to be starting a new fic for taking this into the Millennium World series.


	7. Chapter 7

"Bakura-kun!"

Ryou looked up slowly, the haziness of his mind making it take a moment to register who had called his name.

"Bakura-kun, I'm so relieved you're okay! I-I looked for you for a long time last night. I... I..." Yuugi lowered his head. "I'm so sorry," he whispered.

_Don't worry him. Tell him that every little thing is fine and he doesn't need to do anything rash like changing his travel plans,_ the voice that made Ryou's skin crawl instructed.

He knew that if he disobeyed or tried to fight, it would hurt. A lot. And maybe he wished that somebody would help him, but not Yuugi. Anyone but Yuugi and the bastard inside of him. "... I'd rather not talk to you right now," Ryou said quietly.

"I..." Yuugi mumbled, looking down. "Okay..."

Ryou turned back towards the front of the room and didn't absorb anything the teachers lectured on that day. It didn't matter. The day after tomorrow he was getting on an airplane and flying halfway around the world to destroy it. The world, that is. It was a good bet that next week, either the world as he knew it would be gone, or he would. Either way, it didn't really matter anymore. Nothing did.

...

...

A/N: Yes, it's a tiny short little teaser, because this story will be continued **Final Eclipse**. Be patient, my pretties.


End file.
